A Divided Truth
by Painted With a Palette
Summary: Kairi begins to feel odd. By recall, she was shaded under the impression that she had always resided at Destiny Islands with her best friend, Riku, leading an innocent life. But something starts to not feel right, almost like she's in an alternate dimension. And things seem to get even more confusing when an oddly familiar boy named Sora comes into the picture. AU. Dimension-fic
1. Welcome to the Anime

**Chapter 1**

A yawn escaped Kairi as she wobbled out of her house dressed in her all too striking school-required outfit; a white button-up shirt and a blue mini-tie with her sleeves rolled up and a blue plaid skirt. Her bag hung from her shoulder.

On a good day, her homeland of Destiny Islands was undeniably gorgeous. An island cast off from the rest of Destiny City, and it had been constructed into becoming its own town. The palm trees would sway in the wake of the soft draft, with a tropical foundation coloring the general structural design of local shops and houses. But today, the usual pop of Destiny Islands and its inhabitants looked like uninspired snail races. Her morning gusto had been vaporized and reinvigorated into a thick, lethargic lump. Typical chatter among the passing citizens all sounded like accumulative static. How swift something could fall from grace, she thought.

She sat on her porch steps as her eyes traveled against the dazzling morning sky with light seaming through the cloud's cracks. She plunked her chin on both fists. Mundane was a word she thought she'd never use to describe her island, but after last night's exhilaration, everything else seemed so underwhelming. And because of it, she couldn't get any substantial winks.

"Kairi!"

She lifted her head to see a Maybach 62 pull up to the curve. Kairi whizzed inside her house until she made it into the living room. A woman with raven hair lied on the couch. She had red, puffy eyes trained on the television screen. Kairi kissed the woman on the cheek.

"I'm leaving now, Mom. I put some leftovers from last night's dinner in the refrigerator; it's all wrapped up. You can heat it up if you get hungry. But don't strain yourself, alright?"

Her mother smiled. "Okay, baby. Be safe."

"I will. You get some rest, hear?"

"Of course."

Kairi exited her house and entered the passenger seat of the Maybach with a sleepy breath.

"How's the most beautiful girl on Destiny Islands doing this fine morning?"

She blinked. "Didn't get a wink of sleep last night, Riku." She yawned, for what had to have been the eighth time in the past ten minutes.

Riku studied her slumped form as he put his car into acceleration. "Yeah, you don't look so good. Were you up all night thinking about me again? I get that I'm amazing, but that stuff is unhealthy—you know?"

Usually, she'd giggle at such an innocent quip, but her mirth had been dominated by her exhaustion. The energy to chuckle dispersed into silence.

"Whoa, okay, yeah—something is seriously wrong. So, what's up?"

It took her a few moments to answer. "Riku… you know the rumors about the boy with the key?"

"Yeah…?"

"I think I saw him last night."

"Wow, seriously? Excuse me if I find that hard to believe. You sure you weren't just dreaming?"

"Well, I don't think I was. But the memory is admittedly kinda hazy. I think I'm losing it, Riku."

"No, you seem pretty typical. Typically Kairi, that is."

She slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"I'm kidding."

The previous night was bizarre. While walking back from the corner store late at night, Kairi was mugged for her purse from a street thug. In her moment of despair, a boy in a blue mask and a catsuit came saving the day with a shiny sword shaped as a key.

There had been rumors being spread about the vigilante who held the mysterious "Keyblade". Kairi disregarded the rumors until she saw him in person. But she was quite tired while it all happened, and she had a hard time recollecting the memory as concrete. Hopefully, she didn't dream the whole thing up.

"I've been thinking a lot lately too," she continued.

"Oh yeah? What's on your mind?"

She twiddled her thumbs. "Well, I was thinking…" She shook her head. "Never mind, you wouldn't understand."

"Oh, come on, Kai! It's like, an unwritten law that you can't start a sentence and not finish it! That's the worst cocktease ever."

They met a red stop light.

She sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll tell you." She took a deep breath. "I was just thinking… something doesn't feel right. Have you been feeling it too?"

"Feeling what, too?"

"That, something just, you know, doesn't feel right. Like uh, that things aren't exactly the way they're supposed to be. It's actually kinda… unsettling. I've been feeling like this for the past few months, but I'm not sure why. It's like, gah, I don't know how to explain it. Like—we're in some sort of weird alternate world. The life, we live in now, feels too innocent—too carefree."

A pause—a long, uncomfortable pause. Was he going to sit there and stare at her like an idiot all morning?

"Well?" she challenged.

Without a word uttered, Riku drove off at the green light and stared straight ahead blankly. "Alright, when we get you to school, we're putting you in the nurse's office so that you can get some sleep."

She frowned. "Knock it off! I'm serious!"

"Kairi, you expect me to just be okay with the fact that you think we live in a… alternate dimension?"

"Yes! What's so difficult about that?"

He sighed. "You sure you aren't just sleep-talking right now?"

She tapped her chin. "I mean, I'm a little dazed, but I don't think—"

"Well, then that settles it! You just had a nightmare, but it felt real. Nothing wrong with that. Now, let's just focus on getting to school."

"Well yeah, but—"

"Op!"

"But you're—"

"Op op!"

"Riku—"

"Op op op op!" He wasn't having any of it.

She accepted defeat as the car came to a stop and the two got out, making their way towards Destiny High. Riku was probably right. Maybe she was overreacting and just had some outlandish dream. She needed to get a grip.

Still, the least he could do was hear her out. "You know, I'd think my so called best friend for the past eleven years would be able to take me seriously from time to time."

He stuffed his hands into his pocket with a shrug. "Well, when you talk about silly things about a boy wielding a giant key for a sword and alternate dimensions, how did you expect me to react again?"

He had a point, but she didn't care to reply as they made their way through the gates leading to Destiny High. Kairi couldn't even count all of the feeble girls that threw themselves Riku's way the moment they stepped foot on campus.

"Ladies, ladies," Riku said with a grin. "Don't worry, there's enough of all this to go around."

One of the fangirls groped his muscle. "Oh my god, Riku! Your muscular muscles are so superly muscular!"

Kairi rubbed her temples. She had never heard such a redundant sentence. It took such an enormous crap on the Japanese language. "Oy…"

"Well, thank you, lovely lady." He noticed Kairi by the school entrance. "Kairi, go on ahead. I'll catch up."

She nodded, making her way inside without another word. It wasn't like she cared about Riku's popularity. Besides…

"Hey, Kairi! Is that a new top?"

She was pretty popular with the guys also. She giggled. "No, this is the uniform. I wear it every day, silly."

The bumbling male rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, really? That's awesome."

She smiled and pressed on to the first period, smiling at all the male eyes that gravitated to her like magnets and overlooking all of the female's ones that stuck to her with a jealous spark.

She honestly didn't get why the boys were so infatuated with her. She was a tomboy and had quite an unwomanly stride, not caring whether she slouched or not. Though, that characteristic typically applied to her in the morning when she was still half-asleep.

She made it to the top step of the fourth floor and sighed. "It's gonna be a long week."

* * *

><p>"Okay class, we have some exciting news for the start of second term." Mr. Nomura addressed his English class. "We have a new student joining us. So please, give him your utmost attention."<p>

A boy stepped up before the class with a blank stare. The class didn't know what to make of him, aside from his appearance. His caramel spiky-hair made him stand out, but other than that, his eyes were vacant.

That was, until, he curved his lips into a welcoming grin along with his sunny jewels gleaming at the class of expectancy.

"Hey there!" He folded his hands behind his head with a chuckle.

The class jolted back for a split second. Usually, a new kid would be humble for their first impression, but not this kid. His optimism lit up the room. "My name is Sora! I guess it doesn't take rocket science to figure out I'm the new kid here. But hey, I _am _here, and I hope we can all get along and pave the way for an awesome year!"

He received a well-deserved round of applause from the class with a contagious smile of approval infecting the majority of the students. To say it would be nice to have a few more upbeat campers roaming around went without question. With bewildered observation, Kairi clapped along with her classmates. Did such an enthusiastic boy like him even exist? He was walking proof that there was hope for the school's male population. With any luck, he'd rub off on them. Most boys were too prideful to show off any signs of sanguinity. They all tried too hard to be "badass."

But this boy was already poles apart from the standard. His divergence from the norm was commendable. It was unbelievable how quickly his intrigue began to wear off on her. Some of the girls in the class made some sort of suggestive comment. After all, Sora cleaned himself nicely. She turned to her left to see Riku studying Sora, unconvinced.

"What a tool," he grumbled.

Kairi smirked in his direction, and when he finally noticed, he offered an incredulous look. "What?"

She shook her head.

Mr. Nomura firmly gripped Sora's hand. "I must say, Mr. Hikari, you seem to be an encouraging young man. I approve. We can definitely use some more men with confidence around here." His eyes sauntered to a few of the other inattentive, nearly drooling chaps lingering in his classroom. "Unlike some of these other zombies," he deadpanned. "There's a seat behind Ms. Lockhart back there."

Kairi popped at the sound of her name. Looked like she'd be getting to spend some quality to time with him as well. Was it her lucky day?

"Kairi, please raise your hand so that he knows who you are."

Sora picked up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder with his spare hand in the other pocket. He walked over to the seat behind Kairi, with Riku glaring at him as he passed by. Sora didn't even spare him a glimpse. He was too caught up in his own world.

He plopped in the seat behind Kairi as Mr. Nomura proceeded with the day's lesson plan. "Take out your notes."

Students rummaged through their bags and began writing in their journals as Mr. Nomura jotted what seemed to be a distortion of nonsense on the blackboard. Kairi zoned out mid-lecture and started scribbling gibberish onto her pad.

"Hey," Sora whispered behind her. He must have arched over his desk to get real close to her ear. "Um, I don't usually say this kind of stuff to girls, but you're really pretty."

Heat rose to her face as Riku watched the display with disgust. "Okay, where's my barf bag?"

Sora chuckled in good humor while the blush on Kairi's cheek felt stained. She played with a few strands of her hair, mixing through a flood of thoughts, deciphering the most logical action. It would be rude to not say anything back or at least thank him, but in the end, she chickened out and just sat there in a hue of embarrassment.

Why was she so flustered? Guys told her how pretty they thought she was practically on the daily basis. What made Sora different from any other type?

At last, class had finished and it was break time.

Sora stood up and stretched. He fumbled through his backpack until he came out empty-handed. "Aw, man! I forgot my lunch." He lightly thumped himself on the forehead. "Goofball."

This was her chance; she could make up for her horrible first impression from earlier and at least let him know she wasn't some heartless snob who couldn't bothered to simply reply to his flattering remark. She turned around. "Um—"

Her eyes enlarged and quickly looked away. Those jewels were too bright and innocent. She couldn't even stare at him in the face.

"Uh, you could share with me—if you want to. I have enough lunch to spare."

Riku looked at her as if she were a three-headed dinosaur clown. Sora chuckled and waved her off.

"I appreciate it, but that's okay. I can just get something from the cafeteria."

She looked at his eyes, wincing from their luminosity for a split second before easing into it. "I wouldn't recommend that. The school lunches here are pretty horrendous. Hence, why almost everybody packs their own."

"Well, maybe then it'll teach me a lesson about forgetting my lunches like a ditz." He chuckled.

Kairi smiled. "It's good to have a positive attitude about it."

"Thanks. Say, you wanna join me? We can eat outside."

"I'd love to." Kairi stood up, but immediately was cast in the shadow of Riku's back protectively.

"Sorry, me and Kairi are gonna be kinda busy right now. Maybe some other time," Riku said, shooing Sora off.

He shrugged and turned the other cheek. "Oh, well." He peered over Riku's back and offered another grin to Kairi. "Some other time, then?"

She nodded. "Definitely."

Sora walked away with his hands tied behind his head once more as he made his way to the cafeteria. Riku turned around and was directly hit with dark eyes. She punched him on the arm.

"Ow!"

"What's with you, dick?"

He rubbed the spot. "I don't like that guy. He's way too nice."

"What's wrong with that?"

"He's _too _nice. No dude is supposed to openly express his emotions so willingly like that. It's against everything we men stand for!"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, and that's exactly why he stands out. Maybe you morons could learn a thing or two from him." She sat down and unraveled her steaming lunch. Riku picked up his own lunch while pulling a chair up to Kairi's desk.

"I'm just saying," he continued, "there's something weird about that kid, and I'm not buying his act."

Riku casually took his chopsticks and picked up a sushi roll from Kairi's lunch, stuffing it down his throat. He opened his eyes to notice her dropped jaw. "What?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Kairi sighed. She hated it when Riku ate her food without warning like that, especially when he had his own lunch, but no point in addressing it. It would only go in one ear and out the other.

"You know what I think?" she inquired, reestablishing the subject. "I think you're jealous."

"Jealous? Get serious!"

She smirked. "Uh huh."

He squinted. "Don't look at me like that! I'm not jealous."

"Oh, but I think you are."

"Then enlighten me, missy. Why would I possibly be jealous of some freaky new kid?"

"Because you're afraid he might obliterate your rank as most popular kid in the school. I mean, goodness, when he walked out of the classroom, half the girls were swooning him."

He pouted and crossed his arms. "That doesn't prove anything. Besides, I don't care how popular he gets, nothing can top _all this_, Kairi. All. This." He pulled out his personal mirror and slicked his hair back with a wink.

She groaned although his self-flatteries were nothing new.

"So, what do you think about him?" he asked, disentangling his lunch.

"Me?" She pointed to herself, following it with a casual shrug. "He's cute. But he doesn't seem like my type."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He'd probably make a great friend, but all that optimism will probably start to get annoying after a while."

Riku sighed with relief. "Good, I won't have to worry about you getting contaminated by his bullshit playacting." He wandered his head around the room with his sights setting on the female population. He took a bite out of his chicken fried rice. "As for these other hoes…"

Kairi struck her best friend on the head. "What have I told you about using that word?"

He pouted like a puppy that had been disciplined.

"And knock it off, will ya? Sora's a nice guy. There's nothing for you to worry about. So what if he ends up being a little popular?"

"I just don't want all of us to trust him, and then he ends up dicking us all over."

"And just how would he be able to do that?"

Riku pointed at her, as if ready to give her a justified argument—but he had nothing. He crossed his arms in thought. "Uh, still working on that."

She giggled as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Stop worrying so much."

Though the spiteful spangle in her friend's eye told her he would do otherwise. She heaved a sigh and accepted his hopelessness, digging into her lunch.

* * *

><p>It was fifth period at gym class, Kairi stretched out her muscles as she stood on the sidelines of the kickball game. Razor blades of grass spread the field to a massive length. The sun was too generous that day, with dust dancing in its glaring sunbeams. It was bare against the sky that was washed of columbine flowers. Her eyes widened when a girl jumped onto her back.<p>

How did she know it was female?

Boobs.

"Hiya, Kai!"

"Nyah! Selphie, get off!"

"Oops, sorry! Tee hee!" She slid off Kairi's back. Selphie and Kairi weren't exactly best friends, but they talked from time to time, usually on Selphie's initiative. Kairi found Selphie too much of an airhead to see herself actually furthering their casual relationship. "So—how you liking that new kid over there, huh?" She pointed to Sora across from their standpoint, who was in a conversation with Tidus.

Kairi smiled as she placed both hands on her hips. "Well, I met him earlier in English class—"

"You mean you actually got to _talk _to him?!" Selphie interrupted. "Why you holdin' out on me, girl? How'd you pull him?"

Kairi rolled her eyes. "I didn't 'pull' anybody. I just offered for him to share my lunch with me."

"_Oooooohhh_!"

"Only because he didn't have his own!" Kairi's cheeks flushed a combination of annoyance and embarrassment. She crossed her arms.

"Man, I wish I were as lucky as you—but, unfortunately, I'm in Class 1-A. This is the only time of day I'll be able to see him. Do you think I should talk to him?"

"Sure."

"You don't care?"

"Should I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I asked…?"

Selphie stared at her, astonished. "Wow, you really don't like him."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Kairi rubbed her temple. _Bitches these days…_

Selphie perked up. "Oh well! Less competition for me!" She turned around to find Sora with his hands tied behind his head as usual. It seemed like that bright smile was glued to him. "Aw, but he's so out of my league."

Kairi sighed. "Fine. I'll ask him what he thinks of you. Consider it a favor." Or more accurately as an excuse to get away from her, at least for a little while.

"You'd do that?" Selphie enveloped Kairi in a hug. "Oh, thank you! I mean, you must be whacked if you're not trying _tap dat ass, _but I appreciate it!"

The stiff redhead petted Selphie on the head. "There, there…" she frowned. "Now can you let go?"

Selphie released her and skipped off to a group of preppy girls. Kairi sighed of relief and made her way towards Sora.

She tapped him on the shoulder and placed her arms around her back, giving him a harmless grin. "Hi!"

"Hey. Um…" Sora trailed off. He pointed to her, trying to dig through his memory files of girls he had met that day. There was a bit to search through.

"Kairi," she answered for him.

"That's right, Kairi—I met you earlier. My name is—"

"Sora."

He chuckled. "Oh, yeah that's right. I feel kinda bad now, me forgetting your name, but you remembering mine."

"Well, it's hard to forget the name of the guy who everybody's talking about. I haven't seen someone gain so much popularity in such a short amount of time before. Congrats!"

He rubbed the back of his head with a slight blush. "Hehe, thanks. I don't get what the big fuss is about. I'm just trying to fit in." He darted his eyes left and right. "But between you and me," he whispered, "I've been getting really freaked out by all of these girls that keep chasing me around. I don't get what their deal is. Do you think I owe them something?"

He turned around to spot of group of girls giggling something while eyeing the brunet.

She raised a brow. "You mean you don't know why the girls are all flopping whenever you're around?"

He pouted and crossed his arms, his eyes looking to the sky for answers. "Should I?"

She had to admit, it was pretty cute to see him so dense. She giggled, prompting Sora to only offer a confused gaze.

"Oh, gross!"

They turned around to see Riku making his way to them.

"You guys are repulsive and moldy like my grandpa's balls."

Sora, unfazed by the comment, only waved. "Hey, Riku."

Kairi crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

Riku pretended to look offended. "Now is that any way to talk to your best friend?"

"Oh, I didn't know you guys were so close," Sora admitted.

Riku stepped in front of Kairi, similar to earlier. "Yep, we sure are." She scoffed. Riku checked out his nails. "So, how's your first day treatin' you?"

"Pretty good! I didn't realize everybody would be so nice around here."

"Hey, if you're good-looking, you're bound to get more attention around here," Kairi said nonchalantly. "It's just a staple in the shallow world we live in."

He blushed. "Hehe, gee, thanks!"

Riku watched the display with a furious eye. "Anyway—Sora, ever played kickball before?"

"Actually no, we never did this kind of stuff back in my old school."

Riku smirked. "I see. Well, don't be too stressed about it. It's all about rhythm in motion. You're probably gonna suck really hard on your first kick. Heck, might even get out on your first punt."

Sora moped. "You think so?"

Riku snaked an arm around Sora's shoulder. "I know so. But look, don't let it get to you, champ. We've all been there before—our moments of utter embarrassment and rock bottom. You might feel like shit, you might feel like you're in the lowest conception of sewage shit ever created, and hell, you might even feel like _leaving our school _to find your calling or whatever. But just remember—shit happens." He patted Sora on the back in bogus encouragement.

"Uh, I'll have to keep that in mind."

Kairi shoved Riku away from Sora lightly. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing," he said with false astonishment. "Just tellin' spiky here what the real world is like. Watch and learn, kids."

Riku made his way over to the front of the line and pushed an undernourished guy out of the way. "Step aside, noodle arms."

The pitcher rolled the ball. Without breaking a sweat, he kicked it high into the sky. At once, Riku ran as if his life were at stake. One of the players picked the ball up from its spot and threw it to second base. Unfortunately for them, Riku was already there with a victorious grin. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

Sora watched with amazement. "Wow, Riku's really cool, huh?"

Kairi crossed her arms. "Sure. If 'cool' meant being a total jerk, then yeah, he's freezing."

"Hey Sora, you're up!" Riku yelled across the field.

"Oh, okay."

"Go get em!" Kairi encouraged.

Sora had winked at her before he stepped up to the plate. The pitcher rolled the ball to Sora and without warning, he gave it a big thrust. Everyone's eyes gazed at the sky in a whelm of awe. The ball went all the way to the gate that enclosed the swimming area, where it landed in the pool.

It was a home run.

Riku threw his baseball cap to the ground as he marched stubbornly back to the line, passing by every teammate of his that cheered and applauded Sora's performance. As the boy passed Riku, he gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Did I do good, Riku?"

"You did fan-fucking-tastic, Sora."

"Awesome!" Sora sped off to the raptures.

Riku stomped next to Kairi with crossed arms. He dared not look at her. He already knew an all-knowing smirk would be residing on those lips.

She opened her mouth, but Riku was one step ahead. "Don't. You dare. Say a word."

She playfully patted Riku on the head as she made her way over to Sora, giving him her congrats. He grumbled to himself as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked to a secluded area.

"You may have won this round, Sora Hikari, but you can bet your bottom dollar I shall win the war!" He raised his hand to the sky dramatically, but promptly looked around to see if nobody was watching. "Great, now I'm talking to myself. It's a good thing nobody caught me."

A flash hit him and he saw two nerds scurrying off. "This is gonna be our big headline for the school newspaper, Pence! Riku's gone crazy!"

Riku sighed. "Gimme a break…"

* * *

><p>He stared at the road with a stone cold glower. Kairi sat in the passenger seat and kept to herself. On an average day, she found his excessive douchebaggery to be exasperating, but today his silence was demoralizing.<p>

"Um, Riku…? Are you coming with me to my dance class tomorrow?" Anything to break the silence.

"For the one-hundredth time, Kairi, no. The dancers in your class are all a bunch of snobs and I don't want to deal with them. I know you want me to give you a ride there, but I'm sorry. I can't deal with them, and the bus should be able to get you there in only twenty minutes."

She lowered her head. "Sorry I asked…"

He scrunched his forehead slightly. "No, don't say that. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn't have lashed out like that, but—it's just that Sora kid. Something about him pisses me off."

"What is there to be upset about? He's a great guy and always ready to help out."

"_That's _the problem! There's no way he can be that—that freaking perfect! Know what I mean? And don't you think it's suspicious that he transferred second semester?"

"People transfer second semester all the time. What's so crazy about it this time?"

"Because there's _nothing _wrong with him! And the only time you move to another school is when you're most likely fucked up and got kicked out for doing something crazy."

"Oh, because it's impossible to infer that he probably just didn't _like_ his old school, right?"

"Yin—Yang. It's just frustrating to think that somebody would try to come in here and put on some crappy sham to get everybody to back him up. I'm telling you, Kairi. There's something fishy about that boy."

Kairi grabbed her face in false fright. "Oh my god, someone who's an actual," she gasped, "human being! Oh Riku, our beloved and most sacred savior of Destiny High, please do something to save us from his treacherous acts like, you know, helping old ladies across the street, buying a Moogle doll for one of the local toddlers, and what's worse? He even helped deliver one of the girls in our gym class to the nurse's office when she sprained her ankle trying to kick the ball! Oh, what a dastardly demon he is!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You're makin' fun of me, aren't you?"

She laughed. "You need to relax. There's nothing to worry about with Sora. Who cares if he's a little bit on the perfect side? At least he gives all you other assholes something to strive for."

"Like what?"

"Like his _personality_. Seriously, we could use a lot more genuine dudes on campus."

"_I'm _genuine!"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you are."

"Just you wait, Kai Kai! I'm gonna prove it to all of you guys that Sora is a good-for-nothing creep who's got some kind of alternate motive." He rubbed his chin.

"And what motive would that be, wise one?"

"I'll get back to you on that."

Kairi chuckled and sighed hopelessly.

After he had dropped her off home, Kairi checked up on her mother. She fixed her something to eat, afterward immediately springing for her bed. She heaved her clothes off, leaving her in some shorts and a blue tank top. She snuggled into bed and shut her eyelids.

_Kairi walked out from the secret cave as the sunlight hit her with a ferocity. She winced and used her hand to shade herself from the sun's glare. She was tired and had a lot of work to do. The supplies for the raft weren't going to just find themselves. Riku had most of it taken care of, but she knew it would only be right to put in her fair share of the workload as well. She had slacked off enough as it was._

_Speaking of slackers, she looked down over by the shore. She noticed him wake up and gaze at the horizon of the vast ocean. She tiptoed closer to him. The quicker she got, she could hear him yawn. She bent over as he lied back down, looking into his bright blue eyes as he was paralyzed by hers._

_He sat up. "Whoa!"_

_He turned around and got on his knees. She couldn't help but crack a giggle._

"_Gimme a break, Kairi."_

"_Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."_

"_No! This huge, black THING swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't—" She hit him on the back of his head. "Ow!"_

_She stopped him before he could embarrass himself any further. "Are you still dreaming?"_

"_It wasn't a dream! Or was it?" He lowered his head in uncertainty. "I don't know…"_

_This wasn't anything new to her. Sora was always overdramatic about mundane things like his "dreams"._

"_What was that place?" Sora asked himself, remembering the eerie feeling he got from the world of pure darkness and naught. "So bizarre…"_

_She rolled her eyes as she strode to the shore. "Yeah, sure."_

"_Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?"_

"_I've told you before," she said with a slight chuckle. "I don't remember."_

"_Nothing at all?"_

"_Nothing."_

"_You ever wanna go back?"_

"_Mm, well, I'm happy here."_

_He looked at her skeptically. How could she be so okay with being stuck in a world that she didn't come from? Not that he wanted her to leave. "Really…"_

"_But you know, I wouldn't mind going to see it."_

"_I'd like to see it, too! Along with any other worlds out there! I wanna see em all!"_

_She turned to him with a smile. "So, what are we waiting for?"_

**Where they wait for him…**

_Sora ran inside the secret place. "Kairi!"_

_Kairi turned around, a disheartened hue coloring her eyes. "Sora…"_

_She lifted her weak, heavy hand as the mysterious door busted open with a gush of wind surging through. Kairi disappeared in Sora's arms._

"_What happened to my home? My island?! Riku… Kai—"_

She woke up in a cold sweat with her breath running away from her. As she settled down, she yanked her shirt back and forth to get some wind going. She had never had a dream like that before. And why was Sora in it? But the creepiest part was that it all felt so—familiar.

"What the hell is going on?"

* * *

><p><strong>So, new story. Yeah, I have no business doing this, but honestly, I can't take it anymore. I hate being confined into something and I don't want to be confined into writing stories that I don't really feel like writing, although I'm still working on the next chap of Rags! So don't worry about that! Lover's Quarrel however...Mmm...<strong>

**So basically, we'll be traveling through a bunch of different universes, all with a completely different feel from the last, until maybe Kairi can find the answer to her odd feelings. This dimension is the anime universe, so if you got that kind of feeling, well there you have it! **

**Big special thanks to BlissfulNightRain for helping me out with this story a little bit! She's been an awesome friend and you guys HAVE to check her out! Like, this isn't recommendation, it is _required _that you check out her story "A Date With My Best Friend's Sister(s)" and leave her a review! Hear me? Required! It's really good, I promise! **

**So yeah, this one's short but the next chapter makes up for it. I'll see you there, I hope! **


	2. Perfection?

**Chapter 2**

Destiny Islands was a beautiful place to live.

It was Wednesday afternoon as Riku drove her back home, rambling about what a prick he thought Sora was and how it was a total fluke that he lost to him in that basketball game that day. Kairi eventually tuned him out.

Her eyes wandered her hometown. For the majority of the year, Destiny Islands was washed in a flush of habitual summer. Like the plague, a vibrant green infected the majority of the landscape and spread for miles. The clear, blue skies seemed to have an aversion for thick clouds. A deep, lucid ocean broadened the dazzling horizon. It fabricated an aroma of chlorine that seeped into every corner of the town, and the constant squawk from airborne seagulls gave this place its identity. It was richly deserved for an island that kept itself so sharp seemingly on its own.

Bright days generated good moods and happy faces. The sun's intense light seemed to saturate happiness over the island dwellers.

And it made her sick to her stomach.

* * *

><p><em>She stared out at the ocean.<em>

_In that distance, an islet sat all by itself, surrounded by an almost endless aquatic. To a brief glance, one might infer the ocean as infinite._

_For Kairi, precious memories resided on that quantity of colorful land. But something was missing. Someone else was missing; it made the island feel deficient. The first to come to mind was Riku, but it wasn't him._

_It was somebody else. And what made her inner knots twist in a guilty churn was that she didn't remember his face, his name, or even his voice._

_But she did remember his heart._

_His heart lit up the island. Without his heart, the island would not hold a candle to the glow it once had. The island shone with pride, in contrast to its recent continuous days of humble radiance, like a sacred shrine that hadn't been touched in eons. It waited for the day for him to return—so that things wouldn't feel so unfulfilled._

"_Kairi?" Selphie asked, standing next to her. She looked at her friend with concern._

_As a memory resurfaced, she held the side of her head. Kairi went into her bag and retrieved a bottle with a rolled up letter inside. She bent down and placed it in the water, the soft currents drove it lightly through the waves._

"_What's that?" Selphie asked, bending down to level with Kairi._

"_A letter," she answered, "I wrote it yesterday, to the boy I can't remember. I said that no matter where he is… I'll find him. One day. And when I stopped writing, I remembered something. I remembered we made a promise… something important. This letter is where it starts, I know it."_

"_Wow," Selphie said, not exactly knowing whether or not to take Kairi seriously, but otherwise showing full support. Kairi wasn't the one to joke about this kind of stuff. Not anymore, anyway. "I hope he gets it."_

"_He will. Starts with an 'S'…"_

_A pause._

"_Right, So-ra?"_

**A world without you…**

_It was starting to come back to her._

She opened her eyes.

Each dream grew in vague as the nights prolonged, forming questions that seemed to have indistinct answers. It was all just a basin of blur. What did it all even mean? This was the fourth day in a row she had been having these odd dreams. They almost felt like subtle hallucinations. To a general mind, that probably was the definition of a dream. But she knew better. The taste of familiarity stung her mind every time she awakened, making it difficult for her to believe these as mere mirages. It was stronger than that.

After the proverbial view of her dull ceiling grew tiresome, Kairi found the energy to get out of the bed as she dragged her hot and heavy body down into the kitchen. Her head was killing her. Her eyes were melting. She couldn't even form a proper mental sentence.

She turned on the light and nearly had a heart attack when she spotted her mother with a mug of coffee pressed to her lips at the table. "Whoa, Mom!"

She was wrapped in her blanket and looked at her daughter with tired eyes. She must have had a midnight interruption of bliss as well. She cracked a smile. "Sorry."

"Why in the world would you be sitting here in the dark like this all by yourself? That's creepy."

Tifa shrugged. "Hey, you'd be surprised. When you're this sick, the darkness has a way of keeping you warm." She took a sip.

"Okay then, Ms. Vampire Bat." She went into the cabinet and pulled out a glass. In the fridge, she heaved the jug of orange juice.

"Why the hell are you up this late?" Tifa asked.

"I could ask you the same question."

"But I asked first. Don't you think it's too late for a girl like you to be up this late on a school night?"

"Don't you think it's too late for a sick person to be up drinking coffee?"

"Dodging a question by asking another question. I was sixteen once, you know."

"Oh no, you foiled my evil scheme," Kairi returned. She walked over to the table with her fresh glass of OJ and took a seat across from her mother.

"So, answer my question," Tifa demanded calmly.

"Bad dream." She took a sip out of her glass. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"You? Not wanting to talk about problems? That'd be a first. In fact, you not talking much at all would be a first, with your motorboat mouth."

"Shut up, bitch." They laughed. "It's just that I think you wouldn't understand."

"A mother always understands. That's what the Mother's Manual says, anyway."

"Oh, then I trust your wise judgment," she said with a toss of her eyes. "Trust me, you're gonna think I'm nuts."

"I already think you're nuts, why get self-conscious about it now?" She smiled.

Kairi's mother always knew how to cheer her up. "Okay… well, remember that new kid I told you about? The one that transferred to my school a few days ago?"

"Yeah, of course. He's definitely been a popular topic in 'Kairi Trending' lately." She widened her smirk. "Ooh, does my little baby have a crush?"

She stared at her cup with vacant eyes, nearly disregarding the comment. "More like a fascination. Like one of a scientist that's conducting tests on his little pet."

Tifa blinked. "And _I'm _supposed to be the creepy one?"

Kairi flashed a sheepish smile. "Uh, bad comparison. My point is that I've been having these dreams… and he's been in them. But the dreams, I don't recall them ever happening. But at the same time, they have this familiarity to them."

"So, that's why you're up?" Tifa crossed her arms. "What's the big deal? You're havin' a couple of odd dreams. Who doesn't?"

"No, you don't get it. I have a hunch that maybe things aren't the way they're supposed to be. Like, maybe—maybe we're going about our lives in the wrong way."

"I don't get it."

Kairi scrunched her cheek against her palm. "Mom, what would you do if we found out we were living in some kind of alternate reality?"

Tifa scratched her head. "You know, I'm startin' to think I accidently dropped you at birth and just forgot about it."

"Come on, it's a serious question."

Tifa sighed and tried to take her daughter seriously. She tapped her chin. "Well… what do you want me to say? If that's what's meant to be then, shit, what am I supposed to do about it?" She coughed and took a sip from her warm coffee to relax her stung throat. "But I can understand why you would feel that way."

"You do? You don't think I'm crazy?"

Tifa chuckled. "Oh no, you're fucking insane." Kairi sighed. "But you've been pretty animated ever since you were a little girl. You were never able to sit still and always needed something to do. I guess that's why you're a fierce workaholic these days. People like you always look for something _more_ in life."

"Hm," Kairi hummed in contemplation.

"Although lately, you've seem to have been slacking off a bit."

"Work is draining me. I thought it might be cool to have something extra to do instead of lazing around on my weekends, but now I'm bored. I'm more interested in this Sora kid and why this stuff is happening to me."

"I don't know what to tell you. Just confront him about it at school whenever you feel ready and maybe you can clear things up. Speaking of which, get your butt upstairs and get to sleep. It's a god damn school night."

"Okay, okay…" Kairi chugged her juice and wiped her nose off in a crude manner before placing it in the sink. "You get some rest, too. You don't have any business being up this late either."

"You're not the boss of me."

Kairi stuck her tongue out as she pressed on upstairs. Tifa smiled but a rough set of coughs rudely intercepted her modest delight with pain. She sipped some more coffee. "I hate being sick."

* * *

><p>Sora Hikari.<p>

For Kairi, his name aroused an incredulous sensation.

Not in a sexual approach that a basic person probably would conclude, but to that of pure interest and intrigue. Ever since her dream from last night, his effect on her was astounding. It piqued methodical curiosity to bounds she never knew dwelled within her.

The image wouldn't leave; that abnormally spiky hair of a chocolate flush, round cheeks that shined like the sun, the most genuine eyes when he looked at you with sincere intention, and that goofy smile he'd poise you with right when you feel a slender chance of escape from his ensnaring charm. It was etched in her mind and had no intention of being swallowed too deep into forgettable territory.

But why? It was the million dollar question. She had little to no quixotic feelings directed towards him. She thought he was cute and charming, that was where the line was drawn. Yet, her mind dabbled in many unanswered possibilities. Who was this boy and what was his connection to Kairi? Why have dreams of him? It was almost like some sort of strange, alternate existence. Had she met him before?

Currently, she walked to class with Riku. It had almost become routine for him to rant about how frighteningly perfect Sora was at this point. She tuned him out as she wrote in her notebook.

Thursday To-do List:

Buy some new contacts

Cash in paycheck

Talk to Sora

Buy Mom some medicine

Eggs, milk, and sushi rolls

Quit the student counsel

"Kairi, stop checking off your to-do list and focus on more important things, like me ranting about why Sora needs to burn in a fire."

She rolled her eyes. "You need to get off that. Seriously."

"You need to get off _that._" He pointed to her notebook. "All you think about is doing a bunch of stupid stuff."

"It isn't 'stupid stuff'. It's the things that need to get done. And I've been slacking off way too much, and it's starting to disrupt my schedule. Today I've decided that I'll get back on track." _And try to stop thinking about alternate dimensions… and Sora, _she added mentally.

"Don't you ever wanna just relax?"

"The world isn't run by idlers," she answered without taking her eyes off her journal.

"Alright, no more checklists for you." He snatched her journal away and held it high in the sky. A teasing smirk hit his lips as Kairi jumped and reached for it.

"Give it back, you jerk!"

Faint giggles jingled from behind. Like music, it hit Riku's ears like an upbeat melody. He turned into a sponge as his attention was absorbed and redirected towards a group of overly energized girls trotting into class. With him distracted, it gave Kairi the perfect chance to swipe her journal out of his hands. Not that he even cared at that point.

"Well, hello ladies!" The swift wind of speedy petite figures hit him in right in the face. He opened his eyes and didn't see any of them. "Huh?"

Kairi tapped his shoulder and pointed inside their classroom. He spotted them hovered around Sora's desk.

"Good morning, Sora," chirped one of the females.

He barely noticed any of them. "What's up? How are you all today?"

"We're great!" They giggled.

"Oh, _come on_. The guy's only been here for literally a few days!" He watched them in disgust. "Bitches be thirsty."

"You need to get over yourself." Kairi went over to her seat. Like a moth to a flame, Sora's head rotated to her course in an instant. An infectious smile even wider than before traced his lips.

"Hi, Kairi!" He waved at her, deliberately obnoxious.

The same boy she had been having dreams about, and here he was in tangible form. It was unnerving, like seeing a widely acclaimed TV Star in person, and the swarming mob of fan girl's product of trivial infatuation didn't exactly help the cause. In spite of this, she hid her angst well and returned the smile. "Hey." She jumped a little at the eerie stares she received by the other schoolgirls. "Um… did I interrupt something?"

Sora stared at her obliviously. "No, why would you think—"

"Actually, she _is _interrupting something!" one of the girls interrupted. "We were just going to ask Sora if he wanted to join our Drama Club."

Sora raised a brow. "Drama…?" He never particularly spared it a thought before.

"Yeah, totally! We thought you might be a benefit to our club and we kinda need some more members."

More like a benefit to them. If word got around that _the _most talked about new kid had joined their club, they'd get all kinds of requests to join. Riku scoffed with his arms crossed. He slouched in his seat.

"Wow," Kairi said with legitimate interest, "that actually sounds pretty interesting. I've always had a knack for acting and I have a couple of old plays written out back at home. If you don't mind, I'd like to—"

"We're looking for boys only."

Kairi bent her back in disappointment and averted her gaze. "Oh."

Sora frowned and bulged his bottom lip. Their poor conduct towards Kairi definitely did not meet his principles. "Well, if Kairi can't join, then I want no part of it."

Jaws dropped along them. "Wait, no—we didn't mean that!" one of them said, attempting to save the day. "She didn't finish her sentence. She meant that we're looking for boys only with a girl companion." She chuckled nervously. "So you and Kairi are a perfect match," she forced.

Kairi shuddered inwardly to the possibility of how true that statement may have been. "Kairi," Sora addressed, "would you like to join the club?"

She folded her arms across her chest with a triumphant smile intended for the group of defeated frowns. "On second thought, I think I'll pass."

The group leader strained a smile. "O-Oh, well, hope you guys change your mind. Our offer will be standing."

Kairi received a threatening glare as each conquered female passed her by. Their jealousy must have stemmed from Kairi's overwhelming status. It wasn't like she cared.

Sora looked at her with bubbly eyes. To him, Kairi was a diamond in the rough within the female population of the school. The rest of them were too basic. She was one of the few girls that lacked obsessed hunger for Sora's dick, which ultimately resulted in him being drawn towards her the most.

Not to mention her prominent beauty highlighted her in a crowd of an otherwise plain female collective. The girls around here were cute, but only a few were _bad. _Kairi easily fell into the latter category. Perhaps he was being a tad shallow, but he didn't care.

"Thanks for having my back," she said, breaking his thoughts.

He gave her a thumb up. "No worries!"

She turned into stone when she recalled her dreams. How was she able to talk to him so smoothly?

"What's wrong?"

"Um—" she started, "it's nothing." She waved it off.

* * *

><p>It was break time.<p>

Kairi sat under a tree that guarded her against the sun's glare. For the past few days, Riku had been spending this time to try and "expose" Sora as a fraud. His schemes included challenges some may view as childish such as races, staring contests, one-on-one basketball games, all of which he lost. Admittedly, Sora did seem to get lucky half the time, but his athleticism was undeniable.

He was a mysterious creature.

Kairi took out her lunch; nothing special today. Just a sandwich sliced in the middle to form two precise triangles with turkey and mayonnaise in between. She didn't have time to make any of her traditional lunches, but this would suffice.

She watched as the clouds lazed across the light blue backdrop like a tortoise. It wasn't long before the sandwich masticated inside Kairi's pleased tummy. She laid back and folded her hands behind her head and closed her eyes under the security of the shade.

Tifa was right. She was getting lazier.

More accurately, it was boredom. Nothing new ever happened to her anymore. These days, life had been chiseled by monotony. She thought at one point that getting a job and attending dance classes would offer some kind of self-fulfillment, but it only left her even emptier. She was even on the school counsel as treasurer, but she quit that once it started clashing hours with work.

Nothing had the boundaries to satisfy her anymore. And that was scary.

She slowly raised her eye lids to be greeted to two blue oceanic orbs. She sat up, her spine erect. "Whoa!"

She heard a sly chuckle as she turned her upper body around halfway.

"Gimme a break, Sora."

She was struck with déjà vu. It was almost a copy and pasted sequence from one of her dreams with the roles reversed. She tried shaking it off.

"What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

"Well, my best friend was too busy worrying about you to hang out with me, so I figured I might as well get whatever peace and quiet I could today."

"Oh," he chuckled. "If I was your best friend, I'd hang out with you every day."

"I'm sure you've said that to all the girls. So, what was it today?"

"A rap battle."

"Seriously?" She shook her head. "His challenges seem to get stupider and stupider every day. I think he's desperate at this point. So, who won?"

"I dunno."

She smacked her gums in skepticism. "Yes, you do. And if I go off of context from the past few days, I think I can figure out who did. Spit something for me."

Sora sighed. "Okay. But I'm not much of a rapper. If I had to place myself in the rap game, I'd probably be in the crapper. But I think I spit a fair game. I guess there's no one else to blame for putting Riku to shame as I aimed this wicked libretto disgracing his name, and it was as easy as a word game. It's just fundamentals of the mental, gotta keep it essential. Line for line, I intricately spit these crazy rhymes. A record label? No, I'm not signed. But I'm still too cold for the ice age suffering a glacier during the winter time. I'm like a gold mine for whack rappers to shrine, and no, I've not even reached my prime. Word, Sora fo shizzle!"

Kairi laughed as she clapped. "Alright, you can rap, Sora! You got bars."

He gave her a fake puzzled look. "I was rapping?"

She playfully rolled her eyes with a giggle. "When'd you learn how to do that?"

He shrugged as he folded his hands behind his head. "Rapping isn't really my thing. I just say whatever comes off the top of my head. I guess it's all natural." He smiled.

"Oh, bullshit."

"Have you given me a reason to lie to you, Kairi?"

"Nah, but you've still got reasons. So, I take it you won the rap battle, huh?"

Sora pretended to look at his nails smugly. "I mean, I don't like to brag, but…"

She found herself laughing again. What was it about his company that made it so easy for her to melt in leisure? She wanted to be suspicious of him, but she could only be comfortable with him. Even Riku didn't make her laugh this much, and he was her best friend.

Feelings like that made her feel like they had met before. But she had never met him before in her life.

Did she?

"This is a nice spot. Mind if I join you?"

"It's actually a hundred munny fee for every second you sit here."

"Just so happens I became a millionaire yesterday." Sora sat next to her. "Sorry if I interrupted a nap or something."

"Don't worry about it. This is much better, anyway." She turned to the sky. "I was just watching the clouds."

"Oh, that's cool. My brother and I would do it all the time when I was a kid." Sora pointed to a cloud. "Like that one, for instance. What do you see?"

She squinted. "It looks like a giraffe."

"A giraffe? I was thinking more along the lines of disgustingly muscular penis with thick veins rimming up the side."

Her mouth gaped at him. He only grinned back.

"What?" he asked.

"What the hell was that?"

"That's what it's like, watching clouds with my brother. He could always take the most innocent shapes and twist them into negative ways you never thought possible. It's a skill I kinda picked up on."

"I wouldn't necessarily define that as a skill. Your brother sounds like a real troublemaker."

"Probably because he is." Sora frowned. Kairi was surprised. It didn't come off as an innocent jab at his brother, it sounded like genuine disappointment. Sora returned to reality and put on a grin. "But it was still a lot of fun. Wanna try it?"

She pretended to gag. "No thanks."

"Aw, come on. Lewd cloud watching is fun!" He placed a hand on her back and pointed to a spare cloud. "Like that one. Looks like a harmless paddle ball, right?"

"Yeah, it does, actually."

"Read in between the lines, and you'll see the ball being yanked down from the sack like saggy testies."

She rolled her eyes. "Is this what you do on your spare time?"

"Only when I want to reminiscence my childhood."

"I feel bad for someone who relies on vulgar for nostalgia."

"You should be envying," he grinned. "Sexual innuendo leads to many days of immature mirth. You should try it some time."

More like immature middle school entertainment. She raised her eyebrow, offended. "Excuse me? What do you mean by that?"

He rubbed the back of his head. Maybe he should have reworded that. "Well, I've been watching you the past few days."

"Because that's not creepy at all."

"That's not what I meant. I just mean that I've noticed that you seem a little… what's the word? Uptight. I was actually surprised to see you sitting here just relaxing."

"Uptight?! Never am I uptight!"

He leaned back. "All I'm saying is that you could loosen up a bit. You'd be surprised how immature crudeness can break those tense walls." He pointed to the sky. "Instead of imagining that cloud as a pyramid, try to think of an old lady's bush that hasn't been shaved in a long time."

"You're disgusting."

He laughed. "No, really, look. You can even see the little curvy line at the end representing the disheveled hair at the end of her wrinkly old vag. I got two words for this bitch: trim-mer!"

She looked at him with a blank, disapproving expression. But in the end, she couldn't help but break face. She cracked into a chuckle as she palmed her face. She was almost embarrassed to be laughing at such coarse behavior, but Sora wasn't lying. Something about it sprouted amusement, in some odd, twisted way. Probably because neither of them were taking it seriously.

"Have I ever told you that you have a super cute laugh?" he asked smoothly.

She ceased her giggles in an instant and coughed offhandedly.

"Don't take life so seriously all the time. It's not as healthy as you might think it is. It's good that you're motivated, but you have to balance that out on your spare time."

"You'd be surprised. I've actually been more laidback than I've ever been this entire week."

"That's pretty sad since you were high-strung enough for me to still call you out on it."

"I know," she returned shamefully. She turned to the heavens again. "Oh, look!"

Sora followed her finger. "An elephant?"

"You see an elephant. I see a bent erection with two of the pointiest testicles known to man sticking out on the sides." She laughed at her own horrible joke. Sora eventually followed the suit.

"There's hope for you yet, Miss Lockhart." He leaned back and placed his hands behind him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Does Riku hate me?"

She figured this would pop up eventually. It was only a matter of time. Riku didn't have the capacity to truly hate anyone. "Riku… is stubborn. Whenever there's a sign of competition, he's always a little hostile."

"What exactly are we competing for?"

If there was anything working against Sora, it was his naïveté. Even that still had a certain charm to it. She patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. It's something stupid."

* * *

><p>Kairi entered creative writing class. Desks were aligned in front of a podium where a woman with blue hair stood, her eyes intent on whatever she was jotting down on her attendance sheet. Her name was Mrs. Aqua Holland.<p>

"Hey, Kairi," hissed a loud whisper. Kairi noticed a blonde motioning to her eagerly at a fairly big, round table near the middle, all by herself. Kairi gladly took a seat next to her as she creased the bottom of her skirt, resting down on the stiff blue chair that was provided.

"Hey, Naminé." Naminé smiled back. She was Kairi's cousin and the star artist of the school, but she liked to dabble in the field of poetry from time to time. Kairi liked to consider herself moderately creative, but that said little when compared to her cousin's admirable inspiration for all pieces art. "I know that you're definitely excited for this class."

"When am I not?" Naminé's smile deformed into a straight line. "But I've been meaning to talk to you."

"What is it?"

"Ever since the second term started, you've seemed to be out of it. Did something happen over break?"

It took a moment for Kairi to answer. "No."

"I hope it doesn't have anything to do with Auntie Tifa."

"No, she's fine."

"Oh my god, Riku asked you out, didn't he?"

She shook her head. "Nam, that wouldn't happen in a million years." Naminé gave her a skeptical look. Kairi lowered her eye lids. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I've just been tired." It was a weak excuse that held a portion of the truth. Tired, yes, but of what?

Of life.

"No kidding. Misses 'Work Work Work' has definitely gone down a few notches."

She heard it all before. Kairi grimaced. "Don't look now, but your favorite guy in the universe is heading our way."

Naminé sent her a confused glance.

"Well, don't you ladies look stunning?" asked a male, slightly flamboyant voice. "Even you, Naminé, despite your brashness. Not that you girls don't look beautiful any other day." Naminé wanted to castrate herself to the mere sound of it.

Marluxia Ferguson.

Naminé and Marluxia came from two separate worlds with two completely different outlooks on society. That didn't stop Marluxia from saying what was on his mind, and he could admit that he found Naminé attractive. But her tomboyish personality set her back a few steps in his book. In comparison to her cousin, Kairi, whom he had an almost obsessive crush on since freshman year.

While Naminé was the leading female artist in the school, he was the leading male creative writer and head of the spoken word club. He adorned thin-rimmed glasses. He claimed he was bisexual, although he did seem to lean more towards girls than guys. But he's had a crush on both Riku and Kairi since day one. Kairi would have found him attractive if his visuals weren't so dominated by his annoying tendencies.

Just when she thought he couldn't get any creepier, he sniffed Kairi's hair. "I just admire that ravishing scent of asters that seems to cling to you relentlessly."

_What a douchebag. _"And you would know, wouldn't you?" Seeing as to how he was a fan of agriculture.

"A garden is only as nurtured as the effort one puts into growing it. And Kairi," he took out a flower from inside his shirt pocket, "I think with a little bit of effort, you and I can blossom into something special if you give me a chance." He handed her the bloom. "Of course, a threesome with your buddy Riku is never out of the—"

"Paws off, Marilyn!" Naminé said as she smacked Marluxia's hand away from Kairi.

Marluxia stomped. "I told you, Naminé! It's pronounced Mar-lux-ia! See, if you weren't so unpleasant and more ladylike like your cousin, you wouldn't be so bad. This is why Kairi is the desirable option of you two."

She held up a fist. "And _this _is why I'm about to knock all your teeth out in one blow, you prissy little pansy!"

"Look, Marly," Kairi interrupted, "you're a sweet guy (I guess), but I'm really not looking for a relationship right now. With school and my weekend job, I wouldn't even have much time to spend with you, anyway."

"That's another thing that attracts me to you, Kairi." He kneeled down to level with her face-to-face. "It's not just your deliciously slender figure or your gorgeous face, but that work ethic that you seem to be so attached to."

She lowered her head slightly. If only she could live up to that reputation. Recently, her lack of a strict demeanor left her feeling impartial. Sora said that she should cut loose a bit, but she didn't know if that was a lifestyle she was willing to lead on.

"And something is just so sexy about a woman who isn't afraid to sweat a little."

"Hey, Kairi!" Sora waved at her from the door.

Even if she wanted to hold back, Kairi couldn't suppress her enthusiastic smile. She waved back to him.

Marluxia looked back with jealousy swallowing his cocky character like a black hole. Kairi never looked at _him _like that.

"Who is that?" Naminé whispered to Kairi. "You know him?"

"That's Sora. And yeah, we've spoken before. Maybe once or twice."

"Oh, so that's the Sora I've heard so much about. The rumors weren't wrong, he really is cute."

Kairi rolled her eyes while maintaining a smile. "Sure, I guess so."

Naminé eyed her suspiciously. She looked back and forth from Sora to Kairi. _Oh. So that's why Riku's been acting so weird. _She had seen Riku around a couple of times and spoke with him. It was quite clear he was trying to mask behind some kind of resentment.

Mrs. Holland turned to him. "Oh, are you the new student?" He nodded with a smile as they shook hands with reciprocal gentle grips. The bell rang. "Right on cue."

The class all shuffled to their favored tables. To Naminé and Kairi's relief, Marluxia had another table he was already reserved for, leaving the cousins by themselves.

"Alright gang, meet Sora Hikari. Today is his first day in this class after switching majors."

"I figured I'd do better with the pen and pad rather than leaping around in ballerina shoes," Sora addressed. The class snickered.

"I hope you all welcome him in true Destiny High fasion. Sora, you can choose whichever table you'd like."

The prying eyes from a number of welcoming tables could tear his sights away from a smirking Kairi. More than a few students, boys and girls alike, motioned Sora to sit with them. He didn't even notice them.

"You guys know the drill," Aqua addressed, "keep at it with your poem pieces. Make sure you keep it productive in here today."

The class broke into chatter.

"Inside voices, people!"

"I'm surprised you got to class on time, Sora, and weren't busy looking at lewd clouds, you perverted lazy bum," Kairi teased.

"Nope. Being perverted isn't fun unless you're around."

She put a hand to her heart in mock flattery. "I'm touched!"

Naminé already felt like the third wheel. She raised her hand, catching the pair's attention. "I exist, by the way."

Kairi smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry. Sora, this is my cousin, Naminé."

Sora shot her a friendly wave. "Hey, there!"

"Hiya!" The vigor between Sora and Kairi left Naminé anything but unaware. She could feel their affection. Though Kairi was in denial, Naminé always detected Riku's subtle fondness for his best friend. Stranger spectators would have suspected Sora as the best friend, but luckily she knew better.

He had only been at the school for less than a week in contrast to Riku and Kairi's eleven-year relationship. If that was already appearing weaker in comparison, she felt sorry for poor Riku.

"Since when did you have any interest in writing?" Kairi asked Sora.

"I figured that if I could rap off the top of my head, I shouldn't have too much trouble writing when putting actual thought and effort into it. Besides, I've experimented with poetry from time to time."

"Aha! I knew it!" She pointed at him like a triumphant detective. "There's no way someone can just freestyle like that without any experience in that field!" She poked him on the shoulder. "You dirty little liar!"

He chuckled. "Hey, hey! I never said I was some kind of poetic expert. I'm just saying I've had a little bit of interest and now seemed like the perfect opportunity to take it to the next level. Besides, you should have seen me in that stupid dance class. I can't move to save my life."

"That's an area I can definitely be of some assistance in." Since she was a dance major, after all.

"You should teach me some moves some time."

She averted her eyes with a sly grin. "I guess I could give you a couple pointers."

He snaked an arm around her shoulder. "Is that a proposal?"

"I think it is. It's up to you."

Were they flirting?

Third fucking wheel confirmed.

Naminé smiled sadly. It may not have necessarily been barefaced romantic affection yet, but the potential was doubtlessly apparent. _Sorry, Riku…_

Marluxia watched the display between Sora and Kairi from afar with a combination of envy and discouragement. This new kid seemed to be one of the very small minorities of boys in the school who could actually hold up a decent conversation with _thee _Kairi, Ms. Untouchable and Unattainable. She seemed to relish his charisma.

This was worthy opposition. To have caught the interest of the sacred, often considered asexual Kairi Lockhart, he must have had something special inside him. Sure, he was good-looking, but there were heaps of attractive guys in the school Kairi didn't spare ten seconds for. Perhaps it was some kind of wisdom obscured underneath his easygoing peripheral that was beyond his years. It was the only possible hypothesis for him to lure her in like unsuspecting bait. This Sora Hikari was truly an astute challenger.

"Look everybody! I'm a circus walrus!" Sora announced as he had two pencils stuck inside his nose with the eraser in first as he clapped his hands. Most of the class cracked up, including Kairi and Naminé. "Arf! Arf!"

"Sora, I think you mean a seal," Kairi said through chuckles.

"Same difference."

Marluxia pushed himself out of his seat and marched over to the brunet with a trudge at the end of each drum of his sole. He gripped Sora's shoulder and gave him an agitated and forced smile.

"So, who's this?" Marluxia asked with a vein pumping out of his temple. He was able to chat Kairi up so naturally. What did he have that Marluxia didn't?

"His name's Sora," Kairi answered. "He's just a friend, Marluxia. I don't get where the jealousy is coming from."

He laughed. "Jealous? Where on earth did you get that from?"

Sora flinched. "Maybe because you're about to destroy my clavicle…"

He let go in an instant. "My apologies." He took a hold of Sora's cheeks and smudged them together, making Sora emulate a fish face. "But how can I resist with such an adorable wittle camper like you, huh?"

"That does it, Malumpixel!" Naminé said as she stood up and rolled up her sleeves.

"Calm down, Atalanta, I'm not looking for a fight." He pushed up his glasses and gave her a glare. "Although, if I was…"

"Alright, break it up," Aqua said as she seized the impending tension. "What's the problem?"

"Marlush-cunt won't leave us alone," Naminé stated bluntly.

"And this tomboy can't seem to keep her panties—or I mean, boxers, from bunching up her butthole."

Kairi had to hold Naminé back from ripping Marluxia's head off.

"Oh, dear." Marluxia pushed up his glasses once again, with a smug smile.

"Just one punch," Naminé said with a malicious grin. "_One _punch and I'll be satisfied, I promise!"

"Relax, Nam!"

Sora sat there, oblivious to what was going on. He scratched his head. "Um, did I miss something?" Marluxia bent over to be locked in a tight gaze with Sora, making the latter shift slightly. "Um… I know this is an older trope, but you mad, bro?"

"Your naïveté is charming but otherwise imprudent. I'm superior to you in every way and Kairi still seems to gravitate towards you despite such. Well, know this, Mister Hikari—I will prove my authority to her and yourself. Meet me on campus after school."

"Okay. Are we going to have a competition?" he asked. Riku had made him believe the school ran on rivalry.

Marluxia snickered. This was going to be too easy. "You'll just have to wait and see." He flicked Sora on the forehead.

"Ow!"

Marluxia strutted back over to his table with all eyes glued to him. The room commenced in conversation, mostly on the subject of what just transpired. Students tapped their smart phones screens viciously, ready to spread the news into a rumor like the flu.

"He seems nice, huh?" Sora said.

Kairi and Naminé plopped back into their seats.

"Oh yeah, he's a real sweetheart," Kairi replied, equally sarcastic.

"What are you gonna do?" Naminé asked.

Sora shrugged. "We'll see when we get there." He picked up a pencil and started scribbling on a nearby sheet of paper, returning right back to his old happy self.

Naminé and Kairi shared a worried glance.

* * *

><p>Sora aimlessly walked out of the building with his hands tied behind his head, Kairi at his side. He certainly seemed to not have a care in the world with his usual cheery expression.<p>

"You know what's weird?" Kairi asked, scanning the campus grounds.

"What?"

She jumped a little, not realizing she had said that audibly. "I haven't seen Riku since this morning. You think he's okay?"

Before Sora could answer, a beefy hand gripped Sora by the head and hoisted him into the air. He was face-to-face with an unpleasant mug of a brute.

Unfazed, Sora only crossed his arms with a smirk. "You look like you've been having a spectacular day."

The brute growled. "So, this is my lunch, Marly?"

Marluxia walked from behind him. "This is him, Lexaeus."

"Marluxia, what's the meaning of this?" Kairi asked.

He laughed. "You didn't think _I _was going to be the one to challenge Mr. Hikari to a test of brawn, did you? Hence, why I said I'd be proving my _authority_. I never mentioned anything about my own muscular input."

_Or lack thereof. _She placed her fists to her sides. "Oh, real appealing, Marluxia. I always want to date guys who are too cowardly to face somebody and go to get someone else to do their dirty work for them."

Marluxia sulked. "Well, you make it sound like a _bad _thing."

"Don't I ever get a say in these things?" Sora asked somewhat rhetorically.

"Shut your mouth. It'll be quicker that way," Lexaeus said.

Sora pointed behind him. "Oh my god, it's your grandmother!"

Like an idiot, Lexaeus fell for it. Which was surprising, since despite his buff and menacing figure, he was rather intelligent. "Granny?" The distraction was enough for Sora to wiggle out of his hold.

Lexaeus rubbed the back of his head. "I can't believe I just fell for that."

"Believe it, buddy. We've all been there before," Sora said with a smile. "So, what kind of game are we playing to settle this?"

Lexaeus chortled. "You don't get it, do you?" He jumped in the air and came down with a heavy fist. All he got was a knuckle-full of pavement. He looked up and noticed Sora was a few feet away, tilting his head to the side and his hands folded behind his back.

"I don't get what now?"

Lexaeus shook it off and sprinted towards Sora with a yelp. He swung at the boy left and right, putting his all into each blow, but he missed every single attempt.

Kairi watched with horror, fearing for Sora's safety. She caught Riku rummaging through the crowd behind her. She snatched him by the collar and pulled him towards her. "There you are! Where in the world have you been all day?"

He had a pad in his hand. "I was trying to come up with strategies to put that stupid boyfriend of yours in his place."

"He's not my—" This trump was getting old. "Never mind. Instead of that, how about you help my 'boyfriend' out. He's gonna get pummeled!"

"So you admit it! I should have known that loser was your boyfriend!"

She shook Riku back and forth by the collar. "Riku, you moron! You have to go save him!" He grabbed her by the wrist.

"Get a grip, Kai! And if you'd just pay attention for two seconds, you'd see that your buddy doesn't need any help."

She turned to the battle field. With a blank and confused expression, Sora merely stepped out of the way effortlessly or ducked with each attempted strike from Lexaeus.

"What kind of game is this?" Sora asked mid-dodging. "This is totally different from the ones Riku came up with. A lot more violent too…"

"S-Shut up!"

With his breathing starting to catch up with him, Lexaeus began to get desperate. He whiplashed around and tried to catch Sora off-guard with a clothesline, but Sora somersaulted out of the way. The crowd awed in excitement.

Riku threw his pad onto the ground and stomped it. He collapsed to his knees and pretended to cry. "God damn it, he's Jesus! I'm fully convinced that this embodiment of perfection is the reincarnation of Jesus!"

Kairi's gaze narrowed into confusion. His reflexes, his agility, his dexterity… could it be that he was…?

No, that was preposterous. Sora was way too dense. But in the back of her mind, she thought otherwise.

With sweat trailing down the side of his head, Lexaeus threw a lazy punch at Sora, to which Sora only spun out of the way in effortless fashion, as the brute crumpled into defeat.

Marluxia stared in disbelief as the crowd huddled towards the victor and hoisted him into the air in triumph. He didn't even have to lift a finger to beat the shit out of a brawny opponent. Marluxia walked away with a pondering stare.

After the stimulation died down, Sora found Kairi through the multitude of spectators. He touched her shoulder. "There you are."

"Oh, hey! That was awesome. When'd you learn those moves?"

Sora shrugged with a dirpy smile. "My spider sense was tingling…?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah fucking right." She patted him on the arm. "I'm proud of you."

"For what?"

"For handling that somewhat professionally, with you not laying a finger on him. Any other guy would have given in to that foolishness and would have tried to tear the other guy's head off."

"I'm kind of a pacifist."

"Well, well, well," Riku said, eyeing Sora with a cynical round of applause. "I gotta hand it to you, Sor, that was impressive."

Kairi thinned her eyes. What was he up to this time?

"Alright man, you got me. You've convinced me. I give up. You win." Riku placed a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Um, what exactly did I win?"

"Please, don't rub it in my face you pretentious little shit. It's bad enough that you're already better than me in every way, shape, and form imaginable."

Sora scratched his head while offering a quick look to Kairi. "Um, I'm not sure I get it…"

"Oh, sure! Make fun of the guy who couldn't get the job done. Do you _want _me to hate you?"

Sora blinked.

"Look, it's settled. You're the alpha dog now. You're the messiah of all things in the universe while I, the unworthy peasant, can only dabble in your divine presence."

"What does that even mean?"

"Quit yelling at me! Gosh, you are such a dick!"

"Okay…"

"Congrats, dude. Even I can't compete with that performance. You two go ahead and do whatever it is you two do." He walked away in defeat.

Kairi rolled her eyes. For anyone else, she would feel sympathetic. But since this was _Riku_, with his need to overdramatize anything with the drop of a coin, her compassion was dented.

"I'm not sure what I should make of that." Sora scratched his head.

"Don't even waste your time."

She still had to wonder if Sora really could have been Keyblade-Man. Her theory remained intact for the rest of the afternoon. When Riku finally got his head out of his ass, he found the strength to drive Kairi back home. During the ride, she told him he had nothing to worry about and that she and Sora were still just friends.

"You're still my best friend. Nothing's gonna change that," she said sincerely.

Riku believed her. In fact, he thought she was one hundred percent accurate. The thing about it was that he wasn't afraid of losing his title as best friend. He was more worried about not being able to gain a title that was worth much more than his role as 'just a friend'. And he knew Sora had what it took to snatch Riku's ambitions away from him in a split second like a demon tainting innocent dreams.

After saying their goodbyes, Kairi entered her home. Tifa seemed to have fallen asleep on the couch while watching some stupid reality TV show Kairi despised, _The Princess's of Radiant Garden._

"Bitch, I saw you kissing my man, Aladdin, on Belle's phone! You know she's my home girl, and she recorded that shit!" Jasmine said, obnoxiously clapping her hands to emphasize each word.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Aurora said. "I would never do such a thing! I'm involved with Phillip, so why would I ever even think about touching that peasant? You're such a dumb bimbo!"

"Take that back!" Jasmine slapped Aurora.

Kairi turned the TV off before she killed herself.

She smiled at her mother as she bent over and kissed her on the cheek, pulling the covers over her shoulder. Tifa subconsciously returned the smile and shifted comfortably.

Kairi got the little bit of homework she had done in about half an hour. Throughout that time, all she could think about was Keyblade-Man, and how he could potentially have been her newly acquainted friend. What would she say to that?

She wasn't particularly a fan of Keyblade-Man. Sure, he saved her that one time but his methods in apprehending criminals was starting to grow more and more violent, judging from the news reports. If she found out that Sora hid his happy exterior under some brooding internal aggression, all hopes she once had would be plunged down the drain.

She had to find out who that vigilante was. But how? And when would be the right time? She didn't know how to approach a situation like this, but she knew she wanted to be the one to solve the mystery. Maybe she should just wait for the right moment. She wasn't sure.

Kairi made her way upstairs and got into her sleepwear. At the sight of her persuasive mattress, she almost hesitated. Would she suffer another traumatic dream? Despite her reluctance, she remained intrigued. What kind of visions would she come across this time? She wanted to know.

Kairi snuggled herself into the covers and shut her eyes.

_She changed into more comfortable clothing; a pink, strapless mini-dress. With alert vision, she watched the island for any hint of his return._

_A tranquil, pink sunset permeated through the once indigo blue that flourished the sky, and the relaxed sun bounced off the ocean. It sparkled. A calm breeze caressed her hair. The play island stared back at her like a patient statue._

_How could she have forgotten him? He, who had done so much for her, and to repay him she excluded him from her recollection. She remembered all the memories of their bond, and she felt ashamed for letting those moments get tossed aside so carelessly. She still didn't know what could have caused her to forget. But sooner than later, her guilt was eclipsed by her excitement to see him again._

_So she waited until that fated day came. She waited not only for Sora, but Riku as well. She waited for days, and each one would have the same finish line—a big anti-climax that begged for closure._

_It made her begin to think, "Maybe… waiting isn't good enough."_

"_My thoughts exactly," said a voice foreign to her memory. She looked around frantically. "If you have a dream, don't wait. Act."_

_A man with long red locks and a black coat appeared before her._

"_One of life's little rules," he continued. "Got it memorized?"_

She woke up. She immediately rummaged through the drawer next to her and pulled out her notebook. Since the lights were off along with her contacts unattached from her eyes, she blindly tapped her dresser until she found what felt like a pen.

She scribbled in her journal.

"If you have a dream… don't wait. Act." She wrote it down as she said it, proceeding to lift her head. Hopefully what she wrote down was legible, since she was writing sightless. She felt enlightened. She had a dream to find something more than what her life had been giving her. To do that, she would have to go out and find excitement.

She smiled. "I do got it memorized."

* * *

><p><strong>Helloooo! I hope you liked this one!<strong>

**Hm, so how bout dat super bowl ending doe?**

**About this chapter: Not much to brief you on. I went through hell trying to figure out how I wanted to execute all of this. Since I had an uncomfortable amount of free time this past weekend, I was able to write like three different versions of this chapter, all with a different plot. In each one, I made one plot point perfectly clear: develop the relationship between Sora and Kairi. But I wasn't satisfied with the outcomes of them. This is what satisfied me the most in the end. The only thing I didn't like was that it conjured 8000 words (maybe 9000 because of this AN). Which I really hope doesn't turn any of you guys off, because I swear I only aim for 5000. I tried to go back and get rid of any scenes I felt were unnecessary, but all of this was pretty important character development.**

**"If you have a dream, don't wait. Act. One of life's little rules. Got it memorized?" Literally, one of my favorite lines from the series because it's so true. Hopefully KH3 will give us some more adult-ish themes like this, amirite people?**

**The relationship between Tifa and Kairi is based off the relationship I have with my own mom.**

**Namine is based off one of my besties.**

**Kairi is KINDA based off of myself, but not exactly. It's hard to explain lol**

**Special thanks to:**

Heaven's Silver Mirror for favoriting

WitsWithMe for favoriting, reviewing, and following (You get a virtual cookie for the ultimate trifecta!)

DragonsandInk for following

EtherealX for following

Shiranai Atsune for following

relena soulheart for following and reviewing

Fanguy01 for reviewing

Guest for reviewing

BlissfulNightRain for following and reviewing

**So, are you liking the story so far? Do you hate it? Let me know in a review please! I would appreciate it dearly! :D**


	3. Different Sides, Same Affection

**Chapter 3 **

Sora entered his abode after returning from the laundry mat, his hands tied behind his head as he whistled an upbeat tune.

It was after school and Sora had just finished his usual Friday duty of heading to the laundry mat.

He hurled his bag of fresh clothes on the couch that rested against the wall on the same side as the door. The humble décor of the living room hit him immediately; a simple green plastered the wall. A small TV was mounted on the opposite end. A second couch was adjacent to the other.

Through a plain, white door Sora went inside the kitchen. It was dissected by the impressive island counter. On one side, there was the refrigerator, stove, and microwave. The other side had the dinner table. His brother sat at the table with his feet kicked up on the table. His lids were crushed shut while strumming an air guitar, his external hearing plugged by earphones.

Sora waved his hand in front of his brother's face. No reply. Sora pulled his cheeks apart and made the silliest face he could muster. When the boy opened his eyes, he was treated to a horror that would surely be the foundation to many 'Sora as a Clown' nightmares.

"Whoa!" He staggered back in his chair and toppled over. He sat up as quick as he could to deplete any further embarrassment. Still, he observed Sora laughing his butt off with his rock music blasting in the background. He took out his earphones and frowned at his brother. "Not cool, Sora."

"Sorry. I just had to bring you back to life, Roxas. Don't mind me."

Sora grasped Roxas's hand and helped him up. Roxas stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance.

"You're so immature. When are you gonna grow up and stop being such a kid?"

"Maybe whenever you get rid of that nose piercing."

"Hey! My nose piercing is _awesome!_"

Sora chuckled. "You look like a total poser." He walked over to the counter and chucked up an apple from the basket, catching it easily.

"What's with you?" Roxas asked.

Sora smiled. "What do you mean?"

"You're a freakishly happy nut all the time, but today you're glowing. Did you get some pussy?"

Sora's smile instantly deformed into an displeased line. "Knock it off."

Roxas smirked. "But seriously, I mean, you have been talking about that Kairi girl a lot lately."

The name instantly generated a smile on Sora as he lightly scratched his cheek. "Well, yeah—she's pretty cool. But no—I'm just really happy today. And you should know why."

"I should?"

"Didn't you say you were going to quit your job today?"

Roxas averted his gaze shamefully. "About that…"

Sora didn't like that look on his face. He crossed his arms. "I hate to ask, but what's the agenda for you tonight?"

Roxas sighed. "The usual. I'm sorry, but did you think it would be anything else? With Dad not getting the pay he deserves, it's up to me to support our family."

"But you promised!"

Roxas refused to look at his brother. Those puppy dog eyes could dwell him in guilt at a mere glance.

Sora shook his head. "I can't believe you. I don't care how much you think you're doing the right thing, Mom wouldn't approve."

"Oh, as if she'd approve of what _you're_ doing?"

"Um, yeah," he said as if it were obvious. "I'm avenging her death more than you ever could." Sora threw his apple away, marched into the living room, and clutched the laundry bag.

"Oh, okay—just run away from the problem instead of taking it on, like you always do!" Roxas yelled.

Sora ignored him as he stomped upstairs and slammed his door shut. He couldn't believe Roxas. How could he think that what he was doing was in vain? Sora plopped on his bed and buried his head inside his arms.

He raised his head slightly to see an old family portrait on his dresser. He stretched his arm and grabbed it. He looked at him and his brother when they were just five, his father, Cloud Hikari, and his deceased mother, Aerith Hikari.

Sora was always very close to his mother. She was sweet, supportive, and caring. She was the ideal mother leapt right out of the pages of a fairy tale. Sora hardly wanted to live anymore when he was thirteen years old—that was when Aerith went out into town late at night to stop by the corner store. But she was mugged and killed by a street criminal.

Ever since then, Sora had a passionate hatred for all street criminals and hoped that one he'd be able to put them in their place. Until then, he'd have to suffice with what he had.

Sora went into his laundry bag and pulled out a mask. It was the same one that belonged to Keyblade-Man.

* * *

><p>Riku looked at himself in the mirror.<p>

In his hand, he had the phone number of the cute girl he met at Kairi's job, Paopu Palace. At the time, it seemed like an accomplishment to get the digits of such a cutie, but as he stood there with the small, yellow sheet of paper in his hands—it looked worthless. He crumbled up the paper and threw it in the nearby trash can.

"What the hell am I doing?" he asked himself quietly.

The girl he met, whatever her name was, Olette or something, was nice. Sweet as a cupcake and a cool conversation, but she still didn't satisfy his yearning. Nobody compared to Kairi.

And after years of crushing on his best friend, he deemed it pointless since she never picked up on any of his hints, strong or subtle. She only saw him as a friend, her best friend, her brother.

And it killed him.

Maybe if he just told her how he felt, doors and possibilities that never occurred to her before may open. He'd finally get the chance to be with the girl he wanted. It was a shame; Riku could get any girl he had his sights set for—except her. Kairi was the only one who didn't fall under the trance of his suave. It made her all the more desirable.

So many hearts he had broken simply because the girl he was with didn't meet the standard Kairi had presented him with. Before her, he hadn't known a standard like her was possible.

"It's not you, it's me," he would say to the broken-hearted girls. Funny enough, he was being very honest. There wasn't anything wrong with some of the past girls he dated. It was him for not being able to get his amazing best friend off of his mind and it wouldn't have been fair to be in a relationship half-heartedly, leading them on. The best option would be to end it before their feelings developed further.

Sure, Kairi could be frustrating at times. What best friend isn't? Every time she got that spurt for excitement and creativity, he was always dragged along for the ride, whether he wanted to or not. Her strict work ethic always got him into heaps of unwanted labor—but his feelings wouldn't sway.

He extracted his phone, went into his contacts and pressed down until he came across Kairi's name and number. It was time to break out of this friend zone incarceration. He was Riku, he shouldn't have been afraid to tell a girl how he felt. Only thing was, if she rejected him, their friendship may suffer detrimental wounds that would take years of awkward nurturing to repair. But if she accepted and returned his feelings he'd be the happiest guy on earth. Was it worth the risk?

_Knock, knock, knock! _

"Riku, you're always in the bathroom for like, seventy years!" yelled a female voice from the other side. "I need to _peee!_"

"Xion, I'm busy! Go away!" His fourteen-year old little sister always knew just the right moment to kill the mood. Before he could press Kairi's name, his phone rang. Riku jumped back a little but answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Riku!"

Well, speak of the goddamn devil.

"Oh, Kairi… what's up? I was actually just about to call you. I think we should talk."

"Yeah, okay, sure! But let me go first!"

"But I—"

"Awesome! So listen, I've been looking at this picture of the Keyblade dude I printed off the internet, and I totally think his body proportions are on par with Sora!"

Riku frowned. "That's great, Kairi."

"Hi-yah!" Xion yelped as she kicked the door open. She pointed at her brother. "I knew you were just fooling around!"

"Hey, I said I'll be out in a second! Now go away," Riku said, returning his attention to the phone. "So anyway, what's the big deal about that? I'm sure Sora isn't the only guy out there with a lean body type. You're just fishing for nothing."

"Maybe, but I still think it's uncanny—with Sora's athleticism and all. Need I remind you who's been the victor in pretty much all of your dumb challenges?"

Riku groaned as he sat on the toilet seat. "Don't trouble yourself, the memories have found a home here," he said. "I hate that kid. But I still think you're thinking way too much when it comes to him being Keyblade-Man."

"Are you talking to Kairi?" Xion interrupted, looking at him with her hands on her hips. "Huh?"

Riku ignored her and waved her off.

"Like I said, that's the sole reason why I would suspect him. You know how they say expect the unexpected? Well, I say suspect the unsuspected."

Riku blinked. "Yeah. Whatever." This trivial conversation was disrupting what was supposed to be confession hour. But with Kairi in this kind of mode, it wouldn't be the right time. He should have called her first instead of contemplating for fifteen minutes.

He looked up and noticed the smug smile on Xion.

"What?" he mouthed to her.

She leaned her head closer so that her voice would be heard over the phone. "Oh, Riku," she said in a sultry voice. "It's so hot in here. Why would you be talking to that stupid friend of yours you're always complaining about when you could be giving me some of that experienced dick?"

Riku used all he had not to strangle her. "Get out!"

"Oh," Kairi said. "I didn't know you had company. Nor did I know you were always complaining about me either."

She sounded pissed. This was bad. "Kairi, it's not like that!"

"Oh, Riku! Mm, just like that! I'm on fire!" Xion continued, despite Riku's attempts to shove her away.

"Oh my god! And you guys are doing it while you're on the phone with me? How rude!" Kairi spoke like a stern mother. "Who's over there? Did you get into that Olette girl's pants already?"

"Kairi, if you'd just listen to me—"

Xion moaned. "_Ohhhhh shit, _baby! Just like that! That's the spot!"

"I'm gonna _kill _you!"

"Well, if that's how you want to act, Riku—then you can just forget it." Kairi ended the call.

"Kairi, wait, let me explain—" But it was too late. He heard the dial tone. Riku almost smashed his phone against the floor, but he was distracted when he heard his sister giggling as she ran out the bathroom. "Get back here! I'm gonna cut your head off and eat it!"

* * *

><p>Kairi threw her house phone on the bed as she hugged her knees. How dare he be intimate with another girl while on the phone with her? It was just plain disrespectful. Maybe it was her fault. She <em>did <em>call him first.

She was sure he was telling the truth. Riku may have been an idiot—but he wasn't that rude. But she liked screwing with him.

Her phone went off and she didn't even look at the caller I.D before answering. "Why are you calling back? Aren't you a little too busy right now?" she accused.

"No, not particularly. But thanks for acknowledging that I might have a life—although I don't," said an unfamiliar voice.

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Who is this?" His voice sounded a tad flamboyant.

"Hello Kairi, my name is Joshua."

How did he know her name?

"You're probably wondering how I know your name. It's a complicated tale; one that I feel isn't necessary knowledge."

"It kind of is. How else will I know you're not some creeper?"

"Just trust me on this. I need you to answer one simple question. If you answer honestly, I'll leave you alone."

She took a moment before speaking again. "Okay."

"Do you like your life here on Destiny Islands?"

She paused from the question. "What?"

"Did I stutter? Are you satisfied with your life as it is now?"

She scrunched her forehead as she shut her eyes; a modest flame of anger began to burn. "No," she deadpanned. "No, I'm not. I hate my life. I hate it so much. It's so innocent, it's easygoing, uneventful, ordinary, laid-back, carefree, indolent—simply put—it's boring."

"Really, now? Interesting. So, you would give up this precious life for a more exhilarating experience?"

"Without question," she answered immediately. "This is not the life I wanted to lead, because I know that I'm capable of something so much more than this. Something greater than just a stupid—almost—fantasy world. I feel like I'm living in a photo album of happy memories." She patted her forehead. "Why am I telling you all this?"

"No, this is good. It's exactly what I needed to hear."

"Um, okay…"

"You want purpose?"

Kairi didn't answer. She was still trying to figure out if anything that was happening real.

"I can give you purpose. Or at the very least, lead you to the right path. Come to Paopu Avenue tonight around seven."

That was the same street where her job was. "O-Okay, will I meet you there?"

"That's classified. But I will say that the purpose, thee um, destiny I'm sure you're craving, will commence if you come to Paopu Avenue."

"In other words, something exciting is going to happen? Something that's gonna make my life exhilarating?"

Dial tone.

"Okay, then." She hung up her end as well. "Dick."

* * *

><p>Riku tried to grab Xion but he missed by a centimeter. She made it inside the bathroom and locked the door as quick as she could. She laughed as Riku banged against the door. "Just wait until you come out! I'm gonna murder you!"<p>

"Aw, how could you do that to your own sister? Well, looks like I'm never coming out. I guess I better start getting comfortable in my new room."

"I can wait. Mom and Dad aren't gonna be home for a whole 'nother five hours. You have to come out some time, Xi, and when you do," he pounded his fist against his palm, "we're gonna have a swell time, you and I!"

"Mom and Dad aren't gonna be happy about burying one of their own."

"I'll just say that you were running down the stairs playing with a knife when I told you to stop, and then you tripped because you're a klutz like that. They'll suck it up eventually."

"You're horrible!"

His cell phone buzzed. His face lit up at the sight of the caller I.D. "Kairi! Listen, it's not what you think! It was Xion! You know how much she's always trying to ruin my life. It's her entire purpose in life!"

"It's true," Xion said from the other side of door, which she leaned her back against.

"You gotta understand, I would never try do anything to anybody else if I'm ever in a conversation with you over the phone because you're my best friend and why would I ever do something like that to someone I care about I mean that's just straight rude and—"

"Shut up, Riku."

"Okay." It was a good thing she cut him off. He probably would have spilled the beans in what would have been the most embarrassing, unromantic way possible. What was wrong with him? Why was it that he was babbling like buffoon all of a sudden? He never acted like this in the case of anyone else.

"Forget that ever happened. You're picking me up and we're going over to Paopu Avenue."

"Okay, but why…?"

"Don't ask, just do it! And hurry up!" She hung up.

Riku sighed. Why did she always do this? Just leave him in the dark like that. Things would go by so much smoother if she just said what was on her mind.

He banged his head against the door. "I just don't _get_ her."

"What's the matter, sport?" Xion asked, still on the other side of the door. "Relationship problems with your girlfriend?"

"I wish," he muttered under his breath. "I'm gonna go out for a little bit, Xi. If you get hungry, please don't eat, because when I get home I'll be introduced to the beautiful sight of you passed out on starvation."

"You can't see it right now, but I'm totally flipping you off."

...

Kairi stumbled out of her bed and overlapped her white camisole with her jean jacket. She covered her shorts with grey sweat pants and she quickly brushed her hair, just so that she was at least a little presentable. She looked at her alarm. It was 6:49 PM.

She scrambled through her drawer. "Where is it?" She had been looking for her cell phone all day. It was why she had to resort to the house phone just to call Riku.

Kairi ran downstairs. "Mom, I'm gonna go to the store real quick! 'Kay? Bye!" She darted out of the door, not leaving her mother a chance to react. Tifa sunk into the sofa.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do with that girl."

* * *

><p>Riku pulled into a parking lot. The beach was just a couple feet away. The pair exited the vehicle. Kairi gazed forward as the orange sky painted a humble spectacle. In the distance, a small islet cast off from their island stood still. It looked similar to the one she saw in her dreams. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them, the islet was gone. Did she imagine it?<p>

Riku made his way next to her. Despite her less than stellar outfit, that setting sun did a great job at highlighting her beauty, despite such. She truly was something special.

But his chance was ruined. The moment wasn't right for him to tell her how he felt. Not when her mind was so off course. He decided he'd do what he always did.

He'd hide his vulnerabilities behind a mask.

"That sunset sure is a something, huh?" Riku said to break the comfortable silence. "With just a little bit of tweaking, I'd say it's almost as beautiful as me."

She rolled her eyes. "Charming." She took a few steps behind them and waited for Riku to get the hint. "Come on, Paopu Avenue is just around the corner."

"I knew that." Riku followed her behind.

"We're gonna have to be careful. Each report about the Keyblade dude has gotten more violent than the last recently," Kairi explained. "And this is when he usually comes out."

"Uh huh," Riku said, barely listening. "So, why exactly were you giving me the cold shoulder in the car?"

She sent him a glare.

"I told you, that was Xion! She was just fooling around, no need to get," he smirked, "jealous."

She scoffed into chortle. "Sure. _That's _why I was irritated."

He was disappointed in her response. If she lacked the will to be envious, it put a damper on his confidence on winning her heart. But if she wasn't jealous, "Then why are you acting like this?"

"Because—I don't know. You're just so one-dimensional."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You never take anything I say or do seriously. It gets annoying sometimes, having a 'best friend' who I can't take seriously. And what's worse, you can't take me seriously either. I was thinking about it the whole drive here and I've realized that if anything, we only tolerate each other since we've been together for so long."

He raised a brow. "So, is that why you're not telling me why we're here?"

"I dunno, maybe," she said a little irritably.

"That's unfair! How are you gonna just drag me out here but can't even tell me what's going on?"

Kairi stopped in her tracks and groaned. "Fine, you big baby McWhiny Pants. I got a call from some guy and he said some things about… some stuff. He said to come out here. I guess he wants to meet with me." She continued walking when Riku started looking at her like an idiot.

"Are you crazy? For all you know, this could be some weird stalker who's gonna try to rape you, or even worse, kill you!"

"Why do you think I asked you to come along, then?"

He crossed his arms. "I'm surprised you didn't call your hotshot boyfriend—since he's _so _mysterious and athletic, and better than me in every possible way, apparently."

"You mean Sora? What are you talking about? I called you because despite being annoying, you're still my best friend and I trust you! Do you really think I'd choose Sora over you as far as trust goes? And where did all that better than you stuff come from? I never said that!"

"You sure have been acting like it. Ever since he came to our school less than a week ago, you can't seem stop talking about him. It's like you're his number one fan."

"Please," she denied as she turned to face him, making him stop. "Sora's an awesome guy, and sure, he's cool to hang out with. But I don't care about him. Not in the way you're trying to make it out to be, at least."

Riku looked at someone behind her. "Oh, hey Sora. What are you doing out here?"

Kairi gasped and turned around immediately.

"Made you look."

She slapped him on the shoulder. "That doesn't prove anything! It's natural that I'd turn around when it's someone I know!"

He rolled his eyes. "Uh huh." His eyes widened when he truly did spot something behind her. He hesitated to point behind her. "Uh, Kairi—"

"No way! I'm not falling for it this time."

He grabbed her by the shoulders and forcefully turned her around. They saw what looked to be someone leaping over a fence that led into a nearby alleyway.

"Oh my gosh," Kairi breathed. "That's him! I think that's him!" She clutched Riku by the collar and dragged him towards the alleyway. "Come on!"

They hopped over the fence and ran towards the other side. Kairi took cover by the wall at the end. Riku nearly blew their cover by mindlessly running into the street, but Kairi quickly pulled him back before the man could spot them.

The figure still heard something. He turned around and revealed himself to be Keyblade-Man, with his trademark mask.

"It's him!" Kairi whispered in excitement. "Or to be precise, it's Sora!"

"Don't get your hopes up," Riku whispered back. "How do we know it's not just some goof in a silly costume?"

Keyblade-Man unleashed his Keyblade and got into a stance.

Kairi smirked at her best friend. All Riku could do was agape his mouth.

"Well, shit…"

Keyblade-Man bobbed his head all over.

"It looks like he's looking for someone," Kairi observed.

"You think he heard us?"

Keyblade-Man heard some footsteps behind him. He turned around to spot a street punk running from a scene with a bag of cash. Keyblade-Man had heard of the incident on his radio and rushed to Paopu Avenue so that he could intercept the thug's escape. This was where most criminals would go during police evasion because of the large sets of alleyways could easily lose the cops. But Keyblade-Man knew better.

He sprung into action and sprinted towards the street punk.

"Whoa! Who are you?!" the punk said.

Keyblade-Man ignored him and swiped the cash out of his hands, knocking him to the ground.

The criminal curdled in soreness. He looked at his wrist to find blood leaking from the tip of his vein. "Oh my god!" He looked at Keyblade-Man with fright in his vision. "I thought it was just a bunch of stupid rumors, but you're real!"

"Of course I'm real. This isn't a publicity stunt." His voice was muffled, but the words were audible. He picked up the bag of cash and rummaged through it. "This ought to be good enough for another meal back home." He looked at the thug. "It's low lives like you that make me do this. People like you disgust me. You guys kill just to make ends meet—it's people like you that killed my mother!" He walked towards the scared stricken thug. The punk's heart picked up the pace with every step Keyblade-Man took.

"Please! I ain't have nothin' to do with your mom's! Just—just don't kill me!"

"It's not like you have anything worth living for. If this is what you do, if this is all you have, robbing from innocent people, then you deserve to be removed from society—permanently." Keyblade-Man tossed his Keyblade to the side and clutched the thug by the collar. He began brutally punching the life out of him, ignoring his gasps for breath, the protests, and the pleas to stop this act of viciousness.

Riku and Kairi watched with horror.

"He's gonna kill that guy!" Riku said.

"We have to do something!" Kairi got up, but Riku grabbed her arm.

"And just what do you plan on doing?"

She ignored him and ran out into the street. "Hey, you! STOP!"

Keyblade-Man ceased his assault on the already bloody victim and turned his head halfway. Riku sighed.

"This girl is gonna have me hospitalized one of these days." He ran next to her.

"Get out of here, little girl," Keyblade-Man said, "this place isn't safe at a time like this."

"Yeah, and I don't think people like you are helping the problem! You nearly killed that guy!"

"Because it's his kind that took my mom away from me."

Kairi leaned back. "Really?"

"Yeah, I was thirteen and I couldn't believe it." He stood to his feet. "This is the only way I can avenge her death—by making sure no one else has to suffer like I did by losing someone they care about from some scoundrel."

"Wow," Riku whispered to Kairi. "This guy has been reading _way _too many Batman comics."

Kairi ignored him. "You're no better than any of these scoundrels!"

"What?!" He jolted his head towards her.

"That's not what she meant Mister Keyblade-Man sir—"

"You're damn right it's what I meant! I mean, are you really proud of yourself? You're doing the same thing they're doing! You're going out, beating people into a pulp, then you take the money they stole for your own personal use, am I right?"

"You don't understand, this is different. I'm doing it for my family."

"And who's to say they aren't either? Who's to say that guy you're beating up doesn't have a family he's trying to provide for. Does that make it any more right or wrong?"

Keyblade-Man summoned his Keyblade and stared at it. "I don't understand. I'm not killing anybody—just giving them a taste of their own medicine."

Tears began to leak from her eyes. "I can't believe you. I wanted to believe that you were a good guy, but you're not. I didn't want it to be like this—but you've chosen what you want." She shook it off and glared at him. "Why would you do this, Sora?!"

Keyblade-Man gasped at the sound of that name.

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffhangerrrr! <strong>

**I just want to say that I went through hell trying to get out of my writer's block for this one. **

**Well, it wasn't so much writer's block, more of it just me being indecisive on what I wanted to do. It wasn't that I couldn't come up with ideas or anything. That's why it took me so long to finally get this one out. I literally wrote up like five different versions of this chapter. I think this one came out pretty decent. I may eventually change this up if I feel like this isn't as good as I think it is. So tell me in a review if this sucks, because I need to know! I WANT to know! **

**So, yeah, I ended up getting rid of the first chapter. I don't know, I felt like it didn't do a good job at setting up the mood I want for this portion of the fic, so I scrapped it. So yes, that is why this is now chapter three. So for any of you that reviewed the last chapter three (all two of you -_-), you won't be able to review this chappy. So please, I'd appreciate any one else to step out of their shell and give me some feedback!**

**About this chapter: **

**If you find this story boring so far, let me know. But I do want you to know that it's on purpose. Kairi views her life as plain, boring, and uninteresting. And while I hope you don't view as _that _bad, I do want you to know that it's supposed to reflect on how she feels about the world she lives in. But please stick around, I've got a lot of really awesome ideas that I'm sure will really grab you! (At least, I hope so)**

**Not much else to really say about this chapter. I should be able to get the next one out soon since I know exactly how it's gonna pan out. I actually spliced this chapter in half. **

**Thanks to Coren024 for following **

**And thanks to BlissfulNightRain and WitsWithMe for reviewing**

**So, once again! Thank you for reading and please give me a review! It really motivates me to get better! **


	4. Fractured Promise

**Chapter 4**

"Get up, Sora. Your shift's over."

Initially cautious from his sudden disturbance of sleep, Sora composed himself. He gradually remembered where he was and what he was doing. He scratched his disheveled hair as he pushed himself up from the counter he fell asleep on. Fatigue enveloped his inner body and it took a while for him to find the strength to sit up properly. He sat back in his chair and yawned.

"Sorry for falling asleep again today, Uncle Cid."

Cid rubbed his nose. "It's fine. Business was slow today, anyway. Guess I can't really blame ya." He clutched his nephew by the cranium and pointed at him. "But ya need to start goin' to sleep earlier at night. I can't just have you asleep whenever a rare customer does come in. Ain't exactly helpin' my rep."

"Sorry. I'll try to do better next time."

"Blah, blah, blah…" Cid heard it all before.

Through cagey blinks, his pupils wandered around his uncle's accessory shop. Sora's insomnia wasn't all to blame. It wasn't like he wanted to fall asleep on the job, but the cordial atmosphere denied any internal protests against sleep.

There was a fireplace across from the counter where he worked as a cashier and in the middle was a glass table where it showcased jewelry. A small, black couch and a long cushion sat in the back in front of ladder, which led to Uncle Cid's workshop. He'd repair anything he was given, from broken toys to cars needing an oil change.

Sora unhinged the barrier that granted him departure from the counter and took off his apron, setting it on the coat hanger.

Cid gave Sora a bag of coins. "Here's your pay."

Sora shook the pouch and disappointment painted his face. The coins barely whispered a jingle. It sounded to be about 500 munny. "That's all?"

"Ain't like you deserve any more than that. I can't even count on you to tend to the goddamn chimney, no good slacker."

Sora leaned back and smiled sheepishly.

"In all seriousness, that's all I can afford to dish out. With that incident I had with my motorcycle repair duty—one of my stupid Moogle employees screwed everything up. I have to save a little bit of extra munny to pay for the damages or else that guy's gonna sue my business."

Sora lowered his head. Cid patted him reassuringly.

"Sorry, Sora. I know you and your father really need the cash, not to mention that troublemakin' brother of yours. But this is the real world. Sometimes things don't always work out the way we envision."

"Yeah, I guess." Sora and Cid shared their custom handshake. "I'll see you Monday, Uncle Cid."

"Likewise. Now get on out of here. You know that Keyblade bastard usually comes out around this time."

Sora frowned. "Don't remind me."

As Sora exited, Cid turned around and made a makeshift microphone out of his hands. "Huey, Dewey, Louie! Get you're little asses down here! You know the drill! Fill in for Sora!"

* * *

><p>The graveyard, comatose roads of the town did little to flatten the tides of his vigilance. So far, there wasn't any sign of Keyblade-Man, but Sora didn't want to count him out yet. He threw that stupid costume away earlier in hopes that it wouldn't be found. It was a good sign that he didn't hear any significant hollers or screams from helpless street thugs. Sora hated petty criminals, but there was a limit. He also considered himself a pacifist who refused to lay a hand on others unless in self defense.<p>

Sora was never a fan of death. Even people he loathed, he would never wish death upon them. There were other methods of revenge that didn't have to involve fatality.

He only wished his brother would understand.

Sora stopped in his tracks when he heard pleading cries for mercy. It echoed from Paopu Avenue, a few streets down.

It couldn't have been who he thought it was…? Could it?

Sora wasted no further time in contemplating it as he hurried to the scene.

* * *

><p>Keyblade-Man's posture was solid like a rock. Who was this girl and how did she know that name? Her face brought him no recollection. All he saw was an unfamiliar girl whose tears soiled her cheeks as they slithered to her dainty chin.<p>

"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Scared stiff? Cat caught your tongue? Don't bother explaining, because I already know who's behind that mask."

Keyblade-Man cleared his throat.

"I didn't want to believe you were him, Sora, but I always suspected you from the moment I laid eyes on you. I don't know why, but something told me you were different. I just hoped that this wouldn't be the reason why. I hoped that my suspicions were false." She clutched her shirt. "And you were so nice to me. Always supportive, and you could always make me laugh. I thought that we could be friends, but before I offered that to you, I wanted to make sure my suspicions were false. How could I ever be friends with a monster like you? Going around, nearly beating these people to death like this, it's not like you."

Riku laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You know," Kairi said, as she glanced at her best friend, "Riku told me that I was being delusional. And deep down, I really hoped he was right." She examined Keyblade-Man's body type, lean and well-toned. It matched Sora to a T. "I'm certain that you're him. So just show your face… your reign is over, Sora."

After absorbing every word this girl uttered, he threw his head back and laughed. Kairi stomped her foot. Only Sora would be childish enough to laugh at something as heartfelt as that.

"What's so funny?!"

Keyblade-Man shook his head. "Excuse me, I have a job to finish." He gripped his Keyblade and turned his back on Kairi, making his way towards the shivering thug.

"P-P-Please! Don't' do this!" the man cried.

"Stop!" Kairi ran towards him. Riku called out to her, but she paid him no heed. She jumped on Keyblade-Man's back. The wielder was caught off-guard and trampled the ground in circles in his attempt to get that pesky girl off. "I'm not gonna let you hurt these people anymore!"

He ignored her weak declaration and threw Kairi over. Her back ached as it made contact with the pavement. Riku was driven into a rage. "Oh, hell no!" He charged at Keyblade-Man with his fists clenched and his teeth grit. Keyblade-Man simply swiped Riku with his blade to knock the poor fool back a few feet.

He walked to Kairi menacingly. "I don't know who you are, but you're getting in my way. And I don't care who you are to Sora—if you're going to protect this street punk, then you're just as bad as him and you deserve an equal punishment."

Kairi gasped. "No…" She didn't understand. Why would Sora just do away with her like that? And why was he talking in the third person? It didn't matter. She'd be dead in a few moments anyway.

All that time, she wanted a more exciting experience, but she was unsure if she would agree now. As Keyblade-Man lifted his blade, ready to end her life, Kairi braced herself.

Riku reached out, but the pain in his gut halted him from assisting her time in need. "No!"

Kairi opened her eyes to see Keyblade-Man being struck from the side with another Keyblade. It whizzed through the air like a boomerang. He made impact with the ground hard and clutched his side in pain. He looked up in ire. "You!"

Kairi twirled her head to watch as Sora caught the airborne Keyblade and leaned it across his shoulders with a grin. Her jaw dropped.

"S-Sora?!" Was this for real?

He winked at her. "Looks like I came just in time."

Riku sighed and ducked his head to bury a petite smile. Never had he been more grateful to see that goofy idiot in all his life.

Keyblade-Man used his Oblivion Keyblade to help pull himself up for support as he held onto his stomach. "Sora… how could you?"

"Hey, it's bad enough to go around hurting a bunch of people I don't know, but it's a whole different story when you threaten my friends!" Sora clutched his Kingdom Key Keyblade and charged towards the figure.

Keyblade-Man and Sora clashed their weapons relentlessly. With them distracted, Riku was able to help Kairi up and jog her to the sidewalk.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I-I'm fine, but…"

Her eyes trained on the scene before her. She couldn't believe it—it made no sense. A part of her was relieved beyond belief that Sora wasn't Keyblade-Man. But another part remained confused. If he wasn't Keyblade-Man, then who was? And how come Sora could wield a Keyblade as well?

Keyblade-Man slashed at Sora but he ducked and quickly used his elbow to punch the figure right in the lower back, knocking him over.

Kairi and Riku ran up to Sora's side. She bent down and picked up what looked to be the mask.

Sora shook his head. "And here I thought I threw that stupid costume away. But I guess you're too stubborn to budge, aren't you, Roxas?"

Roxas revealed his face. It was foreign to Riku and Kairi, but his resemblance to Sora went without question. They'd be unmistaken for twins if not for his golden blonde hair.

"Roxas…?" Riku muttered intelligently.

"My brother," Sora answered. "He had the brilliant idea of running around town in a costume, trying to 'bring justice' to the streets by beating petty criminals to near death and taking whatever they stole back home. He even went as far as to intercept some of the radio waves so that he could get the police reports of local robberies on his radio."

"Seriously?" Riku asked. He stared at Roxas and shook his head in disapproval. "Dude, you need an intervention."

Roxas found the strength to push himself up to his feet. "You don't get it… all of you, just don't understand…"

He summoned his Keyblade and didn't wait a second to attack his brother.

"Watch out!" Sora yelled to Riku and Kairi as he ducked and rolled to avoid Roxas's attempted swishes of his blade. Riku carried Kairi bridal-style over to the sidewalk where he sat her down on the curb.

"I don't want to fight you," Sora insisted. "It's time to put an end to this!"

Roxas ignored him and directed his Keyblade towards Sora, casting a spell. A fireball rushed from the tip of his blade and struck Sora in the chest. It knocked him back a few feet.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled, but soon fell to her knees, hurting.

"Take it easy, Kairi, you're still pretty weak," Riku said.

Sora clutched his torso as a pang sizzled in his ribs. He fought his urge of weariness and brushed away his aching. He stood to his feet and bent into his stance.

Roxas blasted a flurry of fireballs. Sora leaped out of the way, forgetting that Riku and Kairi were behind him. Fortunately, each gush of fire narrowly missed the unarmed pair, but was close enough for them to cry in terror.

Sora wanted to punch himself. He had to get his brother distracted so that Riku and Kairi didn't get harmed. Sora rushed towards the beach. "Hey Roxie, I think the lighting's better over here!"

Roxas figured out Sora's intentions, but decided to play along despite such. He ran after him while blasting his firaga spell relentlessly.

Sora's dexterity and reflexes bid him the ability to evade the thrashes of sudden heat. Sora somersaulted onto the island sand, but was caught off-guard when he nearly got vaporized by a bolt of lightning. He fell to his knees.

Roxas lunged into the air and came crashing down. He drove his Keyblade into the sand, since Sora jumped out of the way in the nick of time.

Sora noticed he was a little too close to the ocean for his liking. He never could swim.

"You don't have to do this!" he yelled at Roxas.

Roxas pulled his Keyblade out of the ground, summoned an alternate Keyblade, which he called Oathkeeper, and sprinted towards his brother. Roxas began inexorably clashing both Keyblades. Sora guarded himself, but his strength was depleting. His knees grew weaker with each persistent strike of Roxas, until his leg finally gave out.

Targeting Sora's weakness, Roxas swiped his Keyblade away. Stunned, Sora ran towards his Keyblade but Roxas beat him to it and conquered the Kingdom Key with his Oathkeeper. He pointed his Oblivion at Sora.

"I don't want to hurt you, Sora," Roxas breathed, "but if you get in my way…"

The brother's were distracted when a car drove viciously onto the beach, leaving scorching tread marks. Kairi unbuckled out of the driver seat and ran towards the scene. Riku was seeing stars.

"Now I know why you don't have your driver's license yet…" he mumbled.

"Get away from him!" Kairi yelled.

Sora cursed to himself. What in the world was Kairi thinking? "Get out of here!"

Roxas directed his Oblivion towards Kairi and blasted heavy fireballs at her. Kairi gasped and skid on her knees while covering her head to dodge the attack.

Thanks to Kairi's distraction, Sora was able to jump on Roxas's back. Kairi slowly encircled them, trying to figure out a way to help. She found herself on the verge of the sea. If Roxas caught her, she'd be cornered. She figured she ought to move.

But it was too late. Roxas spotted her and threw Sora off. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this for you to get the point, Sora!" A beam of light stretched out of his Oblivion Keyblade. It threatened to do some fatal damage to Kairi, so Sora had to act fast.

He jumped in the way of the beam and was struck, knocking him into the beach sea. Kairi immediately panicked as Riku caught a hold of her and dragged her away a few feet before she did something retarded like diving in to save him.

"No!" Kairi screamed. "Sora!"

The ocean was a blur. The weight of the water plunged Sora deeper down. The impact of the beam left him paralyzed. Silence surrounded him aside from subtle rushes of the current. He couldn't swim, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't do anything but fall to death.

He never thought his brother would be the one to pass him on—but at least he'd be able to say that he'd be going out in honor.

But then he heard a voice. "Sora!" _Her _voice. "Sora! _Sora!_"

He opened his eyes.

Roxas couldn't believe what he just did. He noticed the Kingdom Key in the short distance disappear. Seconds later, Sora emerged from the sea with his Keyblade in hand.

He hit Roxas with a blizzaga spell, catching him in a berg of ice. Sora landed on the sand and spun his Keyblade on his finger before dashing at his frozen brother. He hit him with a quick combination of powerful blows—a move he liked to call, Ars Arcanum.

Roxas blasted out of the ice and collided with the ground in a daze. His exhaustion dominated any willpower he once had.

Sora won. Riku and Kairi were jaw dropped.

"I hate to admit it," Riku said, "but I think I just got a boner off of that."

Kairi immediately frowned. "T.M.I."

Sora walked up to his defeated brother and put his Keyblade away. "You promised you would quit all of this, Roxas. I can't believe that you would be obsessed enough to go into my trashcan after I left for work just to run around the island in black pajamas."

Roxas glared at him. "I was doing it for Dad—for you!"

Sora almost laughed. "No, you were doing it because you felt bad about yourself—so you went out trying to convince yourself that what you were doing was the right thing. You think you're avenging Mom, but you're not. Like I told you, I'm avenging her death just by working a regular job more than you are by doing this crap. Do you really think she'd be proud of you and what you've become?"

Roxas's breathing grew more intense—until he snapped. "You don't know anything!" He got up, but was quickly subdued by a rapid jab to the face. He was knocked out cold.

Kairi gasped. "Oh my god, is he okay?"

Sora sighed as sadness clung to his face. "He'll be okay. He's just unconscious."

Kairi walked up next to him. "So, what do we do now?"

"He's been mentally unstable ever since Mom died," Sora explained. "I tried to convince myself that eventually he'd grow out of it in due time—but I guess I was just fooling myself because I didn't want my big brother to go away." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I'll have to turn him in."

She touched Sora's shoulder and offered her sympathy. Sora rubbed his nose and tried his best to give her a smile.

"But no worries! Everything'll be okay."

He pulled out his cell phone and called the police. It wasn't long before they arrived while the three students explained the situation, cleverly leaving out the fact that Sora himself had a Keyblade. They didn't need the authorities to try to take advantage of him.

Once they took Roxas away to get him some help, Sora fought back his tears. The last thing he wanted was to see his brother go down this path, but he left him with no other option.

Riku placed a hand on Sora's shoulder. It was an action Sora definitely did not expect. "There, there…" Riku said awkwardly in his failed attempt at reassurance. "I know it's hard now. I mean, sure, your brother's gone away and you're probably not gonna see him out and healthy again for like another three years, hell, maybe twenty, and you probably think it really, really sucks right now and all, but—"

"Riku!" Kairi interrupted. "You're not helping!"

Riku cowered back and sheepishly smiled. "I'm gonna just shut up now."

"For the sake of mankind." Kairi rolled her eyes before looking at Sora. "You okay?"

"Eh, I'll be fine. Explaining all of this to Dad is what I'm really worried about. He told me and Roxas to keep our identities as Keyblade wielders a secret. And since Roxas isn't here to take the brunt of the punishment—looks like I'm gonna have to deal." He chuckled, though it was not happy.

"About that…" Kairi said. "Can you maybe, explain this whole Keyblade situation? It's baffling me."

"I figured this would come up." Sora crossed his arms as he looked to the ground, trying to formulate his response. "Um, it's kind of confusing so I'm not sure if I got all this down pat. Long story short, my dad was a part of S.O.L.D.I.E.R, and so was my grandfather. Grandpa wasn't exactly father of the year, so when S.O.L.D.I.E.R needed some experimentation done, or something, for a new military weapon called a 'Keyblade'—he offered my dad as a guinea pig when he was just a kid. The tests were a success and Dad got the first Keyblade ever made. But to keep a normal life, Dad kept his Keyblade a secret. He didn't want press attention. So, when my dad met my mom…"

"It was genetically passed on to his boys," Kairi finished in realization.

"Yeah," Sora confirmed. "We still aren't sure on how that's possible, but honestly, who cares? And when Mom died, Roxas really took it hard. He was never the same guy ever again. It wasn't until a little recently he decided to avenge her death by being an idiot. He even made me go to the laundry mat today just to clean that costume of his—and let me tell you, that wasn't fun—trying to keep it hidden and all." He sighed. "I tried throwing it away, but I guess after I left for work, he snuck into my room and found it."

Kairi was speechless. "That… is so… awesome!" She bounced up and down. "I can't believe you actually have a Keyblade! I knew there was something different about you! Oh my god, this is incredible!"

"Kairi, calm down!" Riku said as he leveled her.

"But this is so—exciting!" she breathed, lost in her exhilaration. "You know, some weirdo called me earlier and told me something interesting would happen to me tonight! If he ever calls back, I'll have to thank him for his psychic ways!"

Sora chuckled. He found her cute when she was wound up on adrenaline. She shook Sora by the arm.

"Sora, you have to tell me some stories about your Keyblade!"

He laughed. "I'll make sure to do that when I get the chance."

"This is super crazy! It's going to take me a while to get used to this." She shut her eyes. "Finally, something interesting has happened to me…"

Sora looked at Riku for answers. The silver-haired boy only shrugged. Even he, after eleven years of friendship, hadn't yet figured out the quantum physic known as Kairi.

"Kairi, we can talk about it more when school starts back up on Monday. But I think I'm gonna be pretty busy this weekend." He turned serious. "I didn't want anybody to find out, but I didn't have a choice. Roxas was going insane." He rubbed the back of his head. "Guess I don't have a choice."

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked.

He waved her off. "Don't sweat it; I just need you guys to do me a favor."

"Anything," Kairi replied with a wide grin and stupor gaze.

Riku wanted to throw up. She was worshipping him like the Keyblade Messiah. She talked about Sora enough when before they found out he was a Keyblade wielder, now it was going to be excessive with this newfound information.

"Can you guys please keep this little Keyblade thing a secret between just us?"

"Sure!" Kairi nodded.

"But you guys gotta promise me. We'll make a pact." Sora put his hand out. "You gotta swear you won't tell."

It didn't take very long for Kairi to figure out her answer as she placed her hand on top of Sora's. "I promise."

They looked at Riku expectantly. He crossed his arms as he stubbornly shut his eyes. This was getting ridiculous. The initial shock that stemmed from discovery that Sora actually was a Keyblade wielder, proving Kairi partially correct, was eclipsed by his burning jealousy and envy. Why should he make a promise to someone he hated? It went without question that Kairi's attention would be bound primarily for Sora from this moment forward. He'd get kicked to the back to the caboose.

But now Riku had the advantage. He had some dirt on Sora and could ruin him by letting out his secret. Sora would be swarmed by paparazzi and other students so much that he would slowly fade out him and Kairi's life. She might be upset for a little bit—but she would eventually get over it. And he would be there to comfort her and prove that what she needed wasn't all that routine glamour she desired—but only him. Her best friend whom she would find that she loved and cared for deeply. They'd live happily ever after.

Wishful thinking, anonymous.

But this wasn't about him. He knew deep down that this went beyond his desires. Him leaking out Sora's secret could bring damage to more lives than one.

And the look on Sora's pleading face told him what the right thing to do was.

Riku sighed as he unraveled his arms and placed his hand on top of Sora and Kairi's. He didn't like Sora, but the guy hadn't done anything to personally notch him down a few pegs. The kid was just harmlessly dangerous—unintentionally destroying any chance at his love life. But Riku wouldn't go down with a fight—a fair fight. He'd win Kairi's affection, but he wasn't about to go down a dark path just to get it.

Sora, consider this a rare favor—fabricated from his awesomeness.

"I promise."

* * *

><p>It was Sunday night and Kairi had never been more excited for school in her life.<p>

She rested on her pillow as she stared at her uninteresting ceiling yet again. She sighed mirthfully and clutched her pillow. She could hardly contain her frivolous conduct. She was partially right about Sora being able to wield the Keyblade. The fact that the vigilante turned out to be his brother made her rationalize that she was close enough.

It was hard to believe that she actually knew Sora was a Keyblade wielder. And what was better? She was in on it as a secret. It was kind of disappointing that Riku was too. She would have preferred if it were a secret between just her and Sora—for prideful reason—but the fact that she knew at all was thrilling. All she had to do was keep her mouth shut and everything would be fine.

She could barely sleep from the excitement. Now that she had a chance to calm down, hopefully she'd be able to catch a snooze. Just close her eyes, and…

_And_…

_The currents of the orange tinted ocean chorused in a melodious wave. With the day on its verge, Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka called it a wrap and rowed their boats back to the town. Sora, Riku, and Kairi didn't mind. It left the island all to themselves as they watched the sun set. _

_Sora and Kairi sat on the bent Paopu fruit tree. Riku leaned his upper back against it with his arms crossed. _

"_So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora asked, turning his head to Riku for an inevitable answer. They always leaned on him for his impressive insight._

"_Could be," their unofficial leader answered confidently. "We'll never know by staying here."_

"_But how far could a raft take us?" _

"_Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else." _

"_So, suppose you get to another world," Kairi said, giggling. "What would you do there?" _

_It was a good question. All Riku knew was that he was sick of doing nothing on this island. He wanted adventure, excitement, and enlightenment. He wasn't going to find that here. But what would he actually do? It brought his gears to a standstill. _

"_Hm. Well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just… I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds… Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So, we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" He directed his eyes up to his friends. _

_Although, his wisdom and philosophy usually went over their heads, Sora and Kairi admired Riku's 'deep thinking' but also found it a tad annoying. They figured he needed to lighten up sometimes. Sora only shrugged and lied down on the tree with his hands folded behind his head. _

"_I dunno," Sora said carelessly. All he wanted was to see other worlds, not partake in all this thinking stuff. _

"_Exactly," Riku said, detaching himself from the tree. He looked out into the sky. "That's why we need to go out there and find out." _

_Kairi shook her head. It looked like Riku was getting into another one of his moments. _

"_Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."_

"_You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi said. _

_He turned towards her. "Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this." _

_Sora shifted his head slightly but quickly returned his attention to the ocean. He wasn't too fond of seeing the blush on Kairi's face from Riku's sincerity. Who did he think he was, getting all smooth on her like that? _

"_Kairi, thanks." _

_She giggled. "You're welcome."_

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, another one done! That was fast, huh? <strong>

**With all these snow days, I'm able to get this stuff done quicker. Ugh, thank God I'm getting through this fast. Next chapter, if I do it right, should be the last chapter of us in this anime-inspired dimension, and we can finally get on with the plot, which is where things are gonna get really fun! I'm sorry for making the introduction this long. I mean, what is this, the opening of KH2? **

**lol So yeah, a couple things. I'm sure most of you know that the battle scene was inspired by the real Sora vs. Roxas during the end there. **

**Also, I hope this plot I have going for this dimension isn't too confusing. I was aiming for a more linear, simple plot throughout it but with the SOLDIER crap, I feel like it got a little too complex. So tell me what you thought about that. And tell me what you thought about the battle scene too, I had a tough time writing it! **

**I hope I fooled you guys into thinking that Sora was the Keyblade guy (I know I tricked one you ;) and you know who you are), but I suppose it became a little obvious who it was once I revealed that Sora wasn't even where the action was. **

**Let's see, I guess that's about it! So please, reviews! I didn't get any last chapter and it made me sad! So REVIEW! **

**Thanks to musicbox's will for following and faving**

**Thanks to Fictionreader100 for following and faving**

**Alrighty, take care! **


	5. Valediction

**Chapter 5**

Sora never had a dream like he did last night.

He idled in first period, tapping his fingers on the desk. The bell seemed sluggish to propose the start of class. He kept his eyes adjusted on the door. Last night's dream constituted his thoughts. He envisioned a slightly younger version of himself desiring to leave an island to visit other worlds. What baffled him was that Riku and Kairi were present. He was frantic to tell them about it.

The bell rang and there was no sign of Riku or Kairi. Sora slumped on his desk. What would be the odds that both of them would decide to not show up?

Mr. Nomura caught his class's attention. "Alright, pull out the books, guys. Turn to page 75."

Sora felt his phone buzz. He pulled it out and went through it quickly before Mr. Nomura spotted him and snagged him with detention. It was a text message.

**Kairi: hey you :) ditch class and come up to the school roof. U have to go through the double doors at the end of the hall and just keep goin up the stairs **

After his initial surprise dissolved, Sora raised his hand and waited until Mr. Nomura called on him.

"May I be excused to go to the restroom?"

"Sure, Sora. Just make sure you take a pass."

* * *

><p>Each step he made left an echo with a thunderous resonance bouncing against the walls of the hollow hallway. Steep steps spiraled up to indefinite heights. After reaching the top, he climbed up the small ladder and pushed open a door that led to the roof.<p>

The glaring sun made him wince and recoil for a brief moment until he was able to settle his image and soak in the scenery. The roof spread for yards. It glowed in the spotlight of daytime.

Two figures caught his eyes in the short distance, undoubtedly Riku and Kairi. Upon his arrival, they turned around. Kairi waved at him and a smile stretched her cheeks.

"Hey, Sora!"

Riku had an unidentifiable expression. Was he mad, sad, or neutral? Sora wasn't sure, but he got the feeling that Riku didn't like him anyway. He wasn't sure why, though.

Nonetheless, Sora shook off Riku stare and focused on Kairi, giving her a grin. "Hey!"

He jogged up to them.

"So, what's up? Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine!" Kairi chirped. "We had something we wanted to tell you."

"Really? I wanted to tell you guys something too."

"We'll go first," Riku rudely replied.

Sora blinked. "Um, okay. Cool."

"So, I've never told you about this," Kairi said as she folded her arms behind her back, "but I've been having some dreams. I don't recall them but they feel familiar. And what's crazy about it is that you and Riku are usually in them, or maybe even someone else I know."

"Oh… really?" Sora's face brightened.

"Yeah. Last night I had a dream that you, Riku, and I were about to sail off on a raft to go see other worlds." She giggled. "How we figured _that _would work out, I'm not sure. At first I kept it a secret since I figured nobody would take me seriously, but—"

"I had the same dream," Riku admitted, finishing her sentence. "At first, I thought Kairi was full of shit." Kairi glared at him. "_But,_" he reassured, "I can't deny that the dream really did feel kind of familiar in a strange way." He shook his head. "Can't believe I'm actually saying all this."

"You guys wanna hear something funny?" Sora inquired with a teasing smirk. "I had the exact same dream last night!"

Kairi gasped. "No way!"

Riku groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"That's actually what I wanted to tell you guys. And you're right, it really did feel familiar. I didn't know what to make of it, so I was gonna see what you guys thought."

"That is crazy," Kairi gushed.

"I know, right?" Sora said, with an equal amount of gush.

"Calm down girls, no need to wet your panties over it," Riku joked. Sora shot him a dirty look. "It may have just been a coincidence."

Kairi sighed. "Oh, come on. Who in their right mind would label three people who have the exact same dream that they all agree is familiar but can't quite recall, a coincidence?"

"Hey, stranger things have happened before, all I'm sayin'."

She placed her hands on her hips and gave him the 'look'.

"Alright, _maybe _you were onto something this time."

"So…?"

"So, what?" He sighed. He already knew what she wanted to hear. "So, you were right," he admitted painfully.

"I knew it!" She pointed directly at him. "In! Your! Face!"

Riku shielded himself from her patent victory dance that she'd perform on the nine times out of ten she'd be right about one of their disputes.

Riku groaned. "Thank God we're on the roof."

Kairi stopped her wicked dance moves and gasped. "So, if we all had the same dream, it can only mean one thing. We were all friends in an alternate life!"

Sora rubbed his chin. "Makes sense!"

Riku shook his head. How in the world did she get to that conclusion? "You guys are fucking mental."

"No, seriously," Kairi said. "It's why we ended up together in this reality, because we three," she linked her arms with both of them, "we were destined to be friends!"

"Wow, you think so?" Sora asked, a smile creeping up on him.

"I know so!" Kairi responded. "I knew something was fishy! I was writing out a bunch of possible outcomes in my journal while on the drive here with Riku and the most likely outcome I could think of is that something must have happened in our original dimension that screwed up the timeline. And somehow, we ended up here with no real memory of our past life. Just dreams that feel familiar…" She unhooked her arms and turned around to face them. "It's gotta mean something, right?"

"I think you guys are just fishing for answers," Riku said.

"Nonsense!" She shook her head. "We're gonna figure this thing out. Until then, we might as well all hang out like old times."

"What do you mean, 'old times'? There were never any old times! We just met Sora last week!"

"In this reality," Kairi corrected. She turned to Sora's blank expression and could only crack a smile. "But I know in my heart that we've met before in another life." She sighed. "I just wished I remembered."

"Don't worry, Kairi," Sora said. "We'll figure it out."

"Thanks. At least _someone _supports me." She eyed Riku through her peripheral. "Let's meet up after school at Paopu Palace. My boss texted me earlier saying I'll have to work. We can hang out during my break. Maybe if we spend more time together, the memories might come back."

"Count me in," Sora said.

She turned to Riku. "This could lead to something really interesting happening to us. Can I count on you to not blow this off? For me, please?"

Riku's will to say no to Kairi was guarded by his affection. "Mm," he responded. Kairi knew it was his stubborn way of saying he'd be there too.

He just didn't want Sora and Kairi to be spending any alone time together.

"I'll see you guys there," Kairi said. She left the roof with a bounce in her step, leaving Sora and Riku unaccompanied.

Riku let out a breath. "As long as she's finally back to being her old self," he said under his breath. Kairi had been acting strange ever since last Monday. If anything, it was nice to see her back to being the upbeat girl he had grown to know and fall deep in like for.

He found Sora smiling at him with an outstretched hand. "Looks like we'll be getting to know each other a little more, huh? Since we're mutual friends of Kairi, I guess it's only inevitable."

Riku glared at Sora's welcoming gesture. "Listen, I'm only doing this because it's making Kairi happy. But don't get things twisted. You and me—we're not friends."

Sora took a step back. He scratched his head. "What did I do?"

Riku shook his head. He prayed to God Kairi didn't develop any feelings for this moron. He left the conversation at a dead end and exited the roof. Sora crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly.

"What's his problem?"

* * *

><p>Sora tapped his fingers on top of the table. He sat in the booth next to a large window that leaked in the sunlight. Riku sat across from him with his body slumped improperly on the cushion. He tapped away on his phone, ignoring Sora's existence.<p>

The silence was awkward for Sora. Riku couldn't care less. He wanted to make the atmosphere as uncomfortable as possible for him. Maybe he'd leave and then Riku would get some time alone with Kairi.

"So," Sora started, "how long have you and Kairi been friends?"

No response. Sora cleared his throat to fill in some of the silence.

His hands were getting sweaty. "Uh, you think you could pass the napkins?"

"No."

Sora chuckled nervously. "That's okay, I got it." He reached over and picked up the napkins. It was a little tough since there were a lot of condiments in the way, and the napkins were closer to Riku. Sora sat back down and wiped his hands.

Kairi walked out of the backroom with a tray of two slices of pizza and sodas. She had on a white shirt with the Paopu Palace logo on the right side of her chest, and wore black slacks. Her hair was tied into a pony tail and she had on a black cap.

She glanced at her expecting friends and smiled. "I'll be there in a few minutes, guys." She got back to business and delivered the order before hurrying to the back.

Sora chuckled. "She sure is adorable when she's working hard," he said off-handedly, not meaning to say that out loud. Riku growled. "I mean—forget I said anything."

After another five minutes of painful silence (for Sora), Kairi saved the day as she slipped into the booth next to him with a tray. It offered three juicy hamburgers all wrapped up with three side orders of fries. She set down two drinks.

"It's on me, guys," Kairi said proudly.

Sora was starving. He hadn't stopped home before heading there to meet up with Riku and Kairi, thus not getting a chance to eat. He unwrapped his meal and dug in.

Riku wasn't as eager. He continued tapping away at his phone screen, barely glancing at the pair across from him.

"You sure are hungry, huh?" Kairi asked a little nervously as she observed Sora's rambunctious eating habits.

"Oh yeah, I'm starved," Sora said with a full mouth.

She chuckled as she guarded her eyes against Sora's offensive table manners. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

"Sorry." Sora covered his mouth and continued chewing. After gulping, he scarfed down some fries.

Riku rolled his eyes. He was such a little kid. He noticed there was only two cups on the table. "Where's my drink?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot!" Kairi said. "I'll go get it for yo—"

"Whoops!" While aiming for his hamburger patty, Sora accidentally squeezed some ketchup on his white shirt. He rubbed the back of his head. "Some days, I really wish I weren't so clumsy."

Kairi laughed. "I think your clumsiness is cute." Riku gagged inwardly. She reached for some napkins. "Don't worry, I'll clean it up for you."

"Oh, you don't have to—"

"Don't worry about it! I'm an employee here, after all." She dabbed against the ketchup. "It'll stain if I just swipe it off."

"Uh, Kairi—my drink?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm kinda busy now. Can't you go get it yourself?"

After begrudgingly getting his own drink, Riku plunked back down to find Kairi laughing at whatever Sora said. He swore that little asshole did that on purpose.

"Okay, now let's get down to business," Kairi said. "Is anybody else here getting any memories?"

Sora stuffed his mouth with some fries. "Can't say that I am—but this is fun."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Kairi agreed. "How about you, Riku?"

"Can I go home now? I'd rather waste my time on something else."

"Stop being a party pooper. You need to learn how to lighten up. Right, Sora?" She paused when she received no response. She found him staring oddly at something across the room.

"I think that guy over there is gay for me."

Kairi followed his trace of vision to find a boy with scraggly blond hair peeking at the trio from afar. He caught their stare and burrowed his eyes into his menu.

"Are we being loud or something?" Kairi asked rhetorically.

"No. I've noticed him looking this way ever since he got here."

"Nice of you to say something at the time," Riku accused.

Sora ignored him. "What's his problem?" he asked in reference to the bizarre spectator. Sora stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, it's pretty rude to stare, y'know?" he yelled across the room.

Kairi yanked him back down. "Sora, what in the world are you doing?"

"That dude was giving me the creeps."

The mysterious boy sighed, realizing the jig was up. He asked the passing waitress for a check. After paying for his meal, he strode towards the trio's table with a smile.

"Hello."

"Goodbye," Riku said as he stood up.

"Riku, sit!" Kairi demanded.

Riku sat back down in a pout. Sora repressed his laughter.

"Sorry about Grumpy over there," Kairi apologized. "I swear he isn't always like this. I hope this doesn't come off as a little rude, but who exactly are you?"

He chuckled. "You don't recognize my voice, Kairi?"

She gasped. "Joshua?"

"Nice that we can finally meet in person." He winked.

"Who the hell is Tranny McTight Pants here?" Riku asked. This had better not be more competition. Sora was bad enough.

"This is the guy who told me to come to Paopu Avenue a few days ago."

"Oh, great. My favorite guy," Riku said sarcastically.

"I have some questions for you." Kairi crossed her arms. "Starting with, how do you know me and just who are you?"

"I figured as much." Joshua bunked next to Riku, making the latter boy squirm. "Although, I doubt you would believe me if I told you."

"Yes I would!" Kairi insisted. "I love weird, freaky stuff like that. So tell me your secret!"

"You do realize how kinky that sounded, right?" Riku asked, but his statement fell on deaf ears.

"It's nothing, to be honest. I'm just trying to help out."

"With what?" Sora asked.

"Setting things right. Quite frankly, it's been a long time coming."

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked. "Quit speaking in circles and please just answer the question."

"Very well," Joshua said, taking one of Riku's fries without permission. "I'm on a top secret mission."

"Ooh, what kind of top secret mission?" Kairi asked. "Is it something cool?"

"Meh." He shrugged. "It's way too complicated for humans like you to comprehend."

"Humans?" Sora asked. "Um, aren't you one too?"

"Sure." Joshua shrugged. The trio exchanged skeptical looks. Who was this guy? "The short version would be that I was trying to put you guys together."

Sora looked to Kairi for answers, but she seemed about as lost as him. "I don't get it," Sora said.

"It's just really great to see you three together again. I didn't even have to do much to get you guys reacquainted." He smiled. "You three really are inseparable."

"Are you trolling us?" Riku inquired.

"Wait a minute," Kairi pondered, "you said we're inseparable. Does that mean…?"

"What are you getting at?" Sora asked.

She locked into a tight gaze with him. "Could it really be that we were all friends in another life? Was I right about that?"

"That's really up for you to contemplate," Joshua said as he kicked his feet up on the table and snatched another handful of Riku's fries.

"It's true, isn't it?" Kairi asked excitedly.

Joshua shrugged. "I don't know."

She clutched him by the collar and violently shook him with daggered eyes. "Quit playing with my emotions, bitch!"

Sora pulled her back. "Kairi, chill out!"

She composed herself. "Sorry."

"Jeez, can I ever get a break?" Joshua said as he swiped his shirt off. "I guess it goes with the nature of this universe," he muttered under his breath. "Look, if you wanna know more—meet me at the beach tomorrow morning. I have something to show you guys."

"What? Your dildo?" Riku asked uninterestingly.

Joshua stared at him dully. "Ha ha," he voiced cynically. "No, something I'm sure will arouse your interest far more than that."

"Really?" Kairi asked with wide eyes. "We'll be there!"

Joshua smirked. "Looking forward to it. I recommend you guys bring casual clothing. Now, if you'll excuse me. I could use a bubble bath." He gave them a sincere look as he stood to his feet. "I also advocate that you make valediction with your friends and family."

"Why? Are we going on a trip?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, you could say that." Joshua left the conversation at blind interpretation.

Riku shuddered. He probably needed a bath as well; just to cleanse himself from the shear creepiness that guy fed the atmosphere. He turned to Kairi. "You're not really thinking about going to the beach tomorrow, are you?"

Her cheeky grin answered his question.

Riku shook his head. "I'm fully convinced that you are mentally insane."

"Riku, this could be the chance to enter a new era in our life. Admit it. This past week has been more interesting than the past few _years _of our lives." She wrapped an arm around Sora and gave him a noogie. "I think it's all because of this little guy here!"

"That doesn't make it okay to just walk right into dangerous territory," Riku groaned. "I've gone along with your stupid plans, but this is where I draw the line. We don't know anything about that guy. He's probably a fifty cent whore at a gay strip club, and you want to trust him?"

"What's the worst that can happen?" Kairi shrugged. "If he ends up being a dick, Sora can just whip out the Keyblade and call it day."

Riku scowled at Sora. It was painful every time Kairi his name.

"No, Kairi. I'm letting you go down there." Riku's voice was stern.

Kairi looked offended. "You're not my father. Just think about it Riku, haven't you been feeling different ever since we met Sora?"

Riku waved her off as he stood up. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, you do. I know because I feel it too. You feel nostalgic. You're just too stubborn to admit it."

Riku paused. He couldn't deny that he felt reacquainted with familiarity when Sora was around.

"I think that there's a reason that Sora brings this out of us," Kairi continued. "I think there's a special connection between us that's foundation has been in another life. But you don't feel the same way, do you?"

Riku didn't even bother turning around. He'd surely succumb to those puppy dog eyes.

"You know how much this means to me, Riku. There's no way this can just be a coincidence. There's something deeper here than what's meeting the eye. Maybe you just don't want to see the bigger picture." Kairi turned to Sora. "How come you haven't said anything? You've been quiet for a while."

Sora crossed his arms. "I'm still trying to figure out what's going on between us. If we really were friends in another life like Kairi said, I kinda wanna see where this will take us. I'm willing to try anything if you guys are."

If Sora was down, all they needed was Riku. "Riku?"

With an edgy sigh, he puffed out stubborn stresses. "Fine."

Kairi smiled. "Pick me up at eight?"

"Why so early?"

"The earlier the better. We'll get to see what this guy is actually all about." She walked up to him with her hands clasped pleadingly. "Please…?"

When it came to her adorableness, he was unfeasible to reject her requests. "Sure. I'll be there."

She squealed as she kissed him on the cheek and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you so much! I'll pay you back for this, I swear!"

"Yeah, yeah. You can pay me back by getting your own damn car." He averted his head to avoid her from noticing his flushed cheeks.

He rotated an eye to see Sora stubbornly looking away. Score for Riku! He winked at Sora teasingly as the latter boy crossed his arms. He knew they were being childish, but Riku couldn't care less.

Kairi pulled away from him. "Alright, so it's set! Don't forget to get Sora too."

Riku sighed. "I guess."

"Terrific!" Kairi yelped as she skipped back over to their table. Riku scratched his head.

He just hoped he wasn't strolling blind in apparent danger.

* * *

><p>Kairi walked into her home. The area was veiled in darkness aside from the square beam that stood prominent in dimness from the living room. It must have been the TV. She switched on the lights and found her mother sitting at the couch with silent eyes.<p>

"Hey, Mom!" Kairi skipped into the kitchen. Tifa lacked a response as the rustles from the next room whispered in the background. Kairi bounced back into the living room with a sliced watermelon. She noticed her statue of a mother.

"You seem cheerful."

"Yeah, my life seems to be going nowhere but up," Tifa said sarcastically. "What about you? You're merrier than a Christmas dinner."

Kairi's enthusiasm was usually contagious but tonight Tifa was solid in resistance from its infectiousness.

"It seems like my life is about to finally become more interesting."

"Oh. Why's that?"

Kairi put a finger to her lips. "It's a secret!"

It seemed like her daughter was returning back to normal. It brought Tifa relief and remorse. She couldn't even explain it. Their relationship wasn't always the best. A while ago, their bond deterred down more blocks than she originally thought. But they had rebuilt their rocky relationship from the bricks, but not much seemed to change.

And in this moment she felt more distant from her daughter than ever. Kairi was constantly in and out of the house and when Tifa got sick, it got even worse.

Kairi observed the sadness on Tifa's face and sighed. "Mom," she started, "what's wrong?"

"Kairi, do you hate me?"

Words were more powerful than people tended to give them credit for. To Kairi, the right mixture and flow of a sentence can be the ingredients to emotional peril. Despite her relationship with her mother not being the best, that word never met audible territory. It hurt dearly to be asked such a question from her blood. Where did this depression sprout from?

"What?" Kairi set her watermelon on the nearby table and sat next to her mother on the couch. "Why would you ask me that?"

"You're never home anymore, Kairi. I thought that back when Squall left me, we decided we would focus on putting our relationship back together. And since then, it's seemed like you've done nothing but try to find reasons to leave me."

"That's not true."

"You ran for school council, got a job, and when those things weren't working out, you went to go hang out with Riku. I'm proud of you and your work ethic, but am I really that bad of a mother that my own daughter doesn't want anything to do with me?"

"Stop it. You don't know what you're saying!" Kairi wrapped her arms around Tifa as she cried in her daughter's chest. "Come on, what's wrong with you?"

Tifa sniffed. "I just can't help but feel like if you got the opportunity to leave me, you would."

A pang of guilt inflated in Kairi's heart like a balloon. She knew deep down there was truth to that. But it wasn't anything personal; she just craved a more attractive routine.

"Not that I would blame you. After what I did… I married that horrible man and I didn't even care how you felt about it. You must hate me."

"Shut up!" How could she accuse of her of that? Kairi never forgave Tifa for marrying a man who she warned her of from the beginning.

It turned out Kairi was right when Squall would return home with a stench of alcohol and sex. On a good day, he would spit diatribe to them, decaying their self esteem. On a bad day, he'd do much worse. Back then, Kairi's life wasn't all sunshine and fun. She was only nine.

"Stop saying all of that! You're wrong… I love you, Mom. I don't care that we aren't exactly the ideal mother and daughter. I love you more than anyone else in the world."

"Really?"

"Yes. I always have, and I always will."

_I recommend that you make valediction with your friends and family._

"But… that doesn't mean I don't have other things outside of the house that I'm interested in. And it's nothing against you at all." She smiled. "I guess I'm just really adventurous."

"And you're certain it doesn't have anything to do with me?"

"I promise." Kairi stroked her mother's gorgeous raven hair. "But I want you to know that if I have to go away for a while, that it never had anything to do with you. It just means it's time for me to broaden my horizons, see new sights, and find my calling."

"You're such a nerd." Tifa smiled weakly.

Kairi returned the smile but knew inside that somehow she could feel that this was the end. Why did she feel this way? Joshua must have known something that she and the others didn't but the pain didn't relinquish.

Despite it, she forced a smile.

"Shut up."

* * *

><p><strong>On to the next one! :) <strong>


	6. Say Goodbye to the Anime

**Chapter 6**

Kairi jumped down from the stairs as light shun through the blinds of the windows. A smile was stuck to her lips. She could just feel that something remarkable was going to happen today. For better or for worse, she didn't know—but as long as it was exciting, she couldn't care less.

She was dressed in a simple outfit; a white tank top and denim shorts with a black headband. She could never think of wearing that during school hours and she called in sick for work. It was a little underhanded, but she felt like today was important.

"Mom, I'm gonna go hang out with my friends!"

She heard no response. She peeked into the living room to find her mother asleep. Kairi sighed as a sad look settled on her expression. She kissed Tifa on the cheek.

"Get better soon."

Kairi exited the house. That chlorine scent did wonders for Destiny Islands. The town's breath was refreshing. Riku pulled up to the curb and tapped his car door as his arm hung out of the window.

She skipped over to the passenger seat and quickly buckled in.

"Look at you, Ms. Sunshine," Riku said. "What's with that stupid smile?"

She giggled as she kicked her legs out slightly. "You know why I'm so happy."

Riku's eyes sauntered down as he noticed Kairi's cleavage. He looked straight ahead immediately and put the car in acceleration. "It's not often I get to see you in anything outside of the school uniform and your work clothes."

"It's not like what I have on is anything special."

Riku could hardly tear his eyes away. She looked so beautiful with a radiant spirit. He missed seeing her like this. Perhaps the day wouldn't be so bad after all.

"We're picking up Sora now, right?" she asked.

Then again…

He sighed. "I guess I don't have much of a choice."

She pulled out her phone. "I'll text him and ask for his address."

Riku found it ironic that she was part of the reason his jealousy for Sora ran on such steep ends. He couldn't help but wonder if the roles were switched and it was Sora who was tasked at picking her up, would she even bother wanting Riku tagging along? The only reason she probably requested Riku in the first place was because he was the only one of the three to own his own car. He might have just been on transportation duty.

Maybe his judgment was exaggerated. Either way, he didn't want to think about it and enlighten himself to superfluous revelations.

It wasn't long before Riku found Sora's home. He waited on the porch. Once he spotted the familiar faces, Sora gave them a big wave. Kairi chortled and waved back. Sora sprinted up to them.

"Hey, guys!"

"Get in the back."

"Riku, be nice!" She slapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Kai. It doesn't bother me." Sora slid in the backseat. "So, now where do we go?"

"Where do you think?" Riku asked. "We're going to the beach next to meet up with your boyfriend."

"Kairi, Riku's criticizing my sexual orientation," he whined, his voice mocking that of a child.

"Hush, you two! I'm trying to spot the place." Kairi rolled her window down and stuck her head out of the window. "WOO! Now this is livin' large!"

Riku shook his head. "The hell are you doing? This isn't spring break, you know!"

She ignored him. "Hey, I see it! We're close!"

"Already?" Sora asked.

Riku pulled into the parking lot. There were only a few stragglers. After all, it was pretty earlier. Kairi checked her phone. 8:15 AM. She got out of the car and shaded the sun from her eyes.

The trio strolled along the beach in search for any scraggly haired boys.

Riku had a hard time tearing his eyes away from a group of females in very skimpy bikinis. "What's up, ladies? I know, I know, I'm the hottest guy you've seen all morning. But that's beside the point. I have a question to ask you guys."

The girl in the middle leaned her sunglasses down to get a better look at him. "Okay…"

"Are you guys' religious? Because you're the answers to my prayers!"

They laughed. Riku felt his ego daunt in the wrath of their mocks and cruel cackles. He was losing his game. He was spitting corny pick-up lines now? It was all Sora's fault! He didn't know how, but it had to be him somehow!

Kairi tugged on Riku's ear as she dragged him away.

Sora followed behind but decided to stick around when his eyes pried onto the gorgeous curves of the three girls that just laughed Riku's confidence off its pivot. "Well, hello ladies—" He felt Kairi tug on his ear as well. "Ow, ow, ow!"

As they continued walking down the beach, there seemed to be no sign of Joshua. The area was beginning to thicken in population. Now it would be even harder to spot him and that was just assuming he was even there.

"Who asks to meet with people and doesn't even show up?" Riku asked as he kicked the sand. Sora and Kairi sat on the curb behind him. "I knew this was a stupid idea!"

"Hey, watch that stupid word! It's my idea you're referring to," Kairi snapped back. "I'm sure he's here somewhere. We're just not looking hard enough. We need to focus more! Inspect this place like detectives in search for a mass murderer in a slew of unsuspecting civilians. We need precise vision, determination, and willpower to find him!"

"Oh, there he is," Sora said, stopping Kairi's rant. Joshua's head peered out from one of the boats by the docks. He caught them in his line of sight and waved to the trio while gesturing them over there.

"A+ for Sora!" Kairi squealed. "F- for Riku!"

"What did _I _do?"

"Sora found him and you didn't! Now come on! Let's go!" She wasted no time running over to him. Sora gave Riku a teasing shrug before chasing after Kairi. Riku growled as he marched his way over to them.

Kairi paused when she noticed Joshua in nothing but swimwear. Sora caught up to her and protected his eyes from the horror before him. "Ugh! What the heck, man?"

It wouldn't have been so bad if Joshua didn't decide to wear a Speedo.

"What? How come you guys aren't wearing swimwear? I know I said casual clothing, but I figured swimwear to the beach was a given."

Kairi raised a brow. "So you just invited us to hang out for a day?"

Joshua shrugged. "Yeah, basically."

Disappointment mended to her mood. She was hoping that he'd conjure something interesting to happen for her, but all he wanted was to be friends. She should have known.

But that wouldn't explain how he knew her name or number before she even addressed him. This was all too confusing.

Riku caught up with them and immediately shrieked in fear at the sight of Joshua. "Aw, dude! Gross!"

Joshua chuckled. "It's a society-accepted swimsuit. Get used to it." He presented the boat to them. "Won't you guys get in?"

"Please, put some pants on or something!" Sora complained.

Kairi hopped in the boat. "Come on, guys, it's not gonna kill you."

"Easy for you to say," Riku said. "It's not like you have to deal with practically exposed boobs."

"Just get in."

Sora and Riku groaned. They did not plan on spending their day with a guy who was borderline naked. They jumped in the boat and took a seat.

"I'm glad you guys came out here today. This will definitely be a day you three will never forget."

"You're not thinking about an orgy, are you?" Riku asked. "If that's the case, dibs on Kairi."

"No, moron. There's a place I wanted to show you." Joshua got up and bent over to grab his paddle sticks. Sora and Riku hissed at the traumatizing spectacle.

"Bro, just—just stop it!" Sora whined.

"Dude, you're giving me cancer," Riku said.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Man up, guys," she said. "It's not like you're having actual sex with him."

"As far as I'm concerned, that outfit already initiates flirtation." Sora trembled. "I feel dirty just looking at it."

"Enough already," Joshua said as he paddled them across the sea. A silence washed over the short trip. The trio closed their eyes and rested. The whisper of the current was relaxing. Soon, the boat came to a stop. Joshua stepped out of the vessel and firmly placed his bare feet on warm sand. "Here we are."

All doubts washed away when Kairi's eyes set on their marked destination.

It was Destiny Islands. Not the town she lived in, but a real island cast off from the rest of civilization. The same play island from her dreams. Her mouth was parted in shock. She rubbed her eyes to make sure her vision wasn't distorted in hallucination.

Sora and Riku wore similar expressions. "I know this place…" Sora said.

"This place should have burrowed a piece of your memory by now," Joshua said. "Have fun." He dove into the water before they could question him. Kairi and Sora were the first to step out.

"This is unbelievable." Kairi looked over the area in bewilderment. She was flustered with excitement. "Oh my god, this place is real!" She grabbed Sora's hand and ran over to the tree house. "Let's check it out!"

"Whoa!" Sora was still lost in his thoughts.

Riku stepped out of the boat as a look of uncertainty stained him. "This can't be real."

In the water, Joshua broke surface as he poked his head out. "Oh, but it is, my friend. Relax. Allow your eyes to devour the tangible existence of once proclaimed hallucinations."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm just following the script."

Whoever this Joshua guy was, he was not helping. "I want some answers. How come I've never seen this place before?"

"Because it doesn't exist," he answered casually.

"Well, that's obviously not true."

"I'm not lying. In this realm, this place is just a figment of your imagination, but it is something that I've casted from your deepest memories."

Riku scratched his head. "Dude."

"Deep inside, you remember this place. You know you've been here before. But your lack of recollection keeps you from admitting it, or perhaps even discovering it." Joshua looked out into the distance where the town was. "To tell you the truth, you three are the only ones in the world who can see this place or feel it. Right now, it's as if you guys don't even exist."

"You're crazy." Riku was about to walk away.

"Quite the contrary, for the only way to escape a false world is to be in false reality." He sunk back into the water.

Riku stomped. "Argh! What does that even mean?"

He didn't have time for that. Where did Sora and Kairi go? He had to make sure that they didn't get into too much trouble. As if reading his mind, the pair ran up to him like two toddlers that found a really cool-looking seashell.

"Riku, look at this place!" said Kairi. "Isn't it flipping incredible?"

"We searched it from toe to toe and have concluded that it's identical to the island we saw in the dream we had! Isn't that amazing?" Sora said.

Riku rolled his eyes. "Fascinating. Look guys, I really think we should be getting out of here."

Kairi pouted. "But we just got here."

"And now I'm saying we should ditch this place. It's giving me the creeps."

Sora shook his head. "You need to learn how to have some fun, Riku."

"How can you guys be so casual about this? Don't you think it's a little weird? I don't trust that Joshua guy either. He's up to something."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't trust anyone." She waved him off. "So, are you gonna just mope around like a paranoid fugitive, or are you gonna help us explore?"

"I'll pass." He didn't know where they were at and he wasn't about to be drawn into anything this suspicious.

"Suit yourself." Kairi tapped Sora on the shoulder before running off. "Tag! You're it!"

Sora laughed as he ran after her. Riku groaned. What were they? Five? He felt like the lame chaperone looking after two troublemakers. He wanted to leave but it looked like Sora and Kairi weren't going anywhere. He couldn't just leave them. He had no choice but to stick around.

Riku sighed as he looked up to see a bent tree with star-shaped fruit dangling from the branches. He remembered it from the dream from last night. Riku made his way through the shed and walked across the border until he hopped onto the tree and took a seat. His leg dangled from the branch as he rested his arm on his knee. He breathed in the air.

Such a soft breeze. The feeling was foreign yet familiar—it was surreal. How does one deal with an unforeseen history? He sat there alone. He watched as Joshua rested on the warm sand while Sora and Kairi ran across the island like carefree children in Disney Land.

The passive atmosphere began to gradually break down Riku's walls of paranoia and he soon found himself relaxing.

As Kairi tackled Sora to the ground, the pair indulged themselves in a fit of innocent mirth. It was as if their childhoods had been blissfully renovated. Kairi made it to her feet and swiped off her shorts. She helped Sora up as he kept his eyes trained on Riku. Kairi noticed and turned around.

"What's with him?" Sora asked.

Kairi rolled her eyes, but maintained a smile. "He's having a 'deep' moment. Wanna join him?"

Riku didn't even notice how much time Sora and Kairi were spending. He just wanted to know where this place came from and why Joshua decided to show it to them.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Sora asked as he hopped onto the tree with Riku, smiling warmly.

"I was just thinking about how much you make me look like a million bucks better whenever you're around."

Sora frowned. "You're so mean."

Kairi hopped onto the tree and squeezed in the middle of them. She inhaled the ocean air and exhaled sweet nothings while wrapping her arms around the boys, pulling them a little closer to her. "This is nice, huh? Just hanging out with friends on the most gorgeous place on earth."

"Too bad three's a crowd," Riku deadpanned.

"Riku, be nice," Kairi warned. "But seriously, something about this feels right. I don't know why, or how, but I'm glad it could be us three again. Even if we don't remember, I know we were friends before."

Sora nodded. "Yeah!"

"Precisely," said Joshua. He climbed up the ladder that elevated to the paopu fruit tree. He wrapped a towel over his midsection. "There's a reason behind everything, you know."

"So, are you saying I was right? We really are friends in an alternate dimension?" Kairi asked with hope in her eyes.

Joshua shrugged smugly. "If that's what you think."

Sora hopped down from the tree and walked towards Joshua. "We've waited and I'm pretty sure we're overdue for an answer. What is it that you want from us?"

"You three are the key to restore order in the timeline."

Riku rolled his eyes. "What does that even mean?"

"You'll just have to figure that out for yourselves." Joshua turned to the sky. "So, did you guys patch things up with your loved ones?"

"What's it matter to you?" Kairi asked.

"Just know that if you want to see them again, you'll have to do as I say."

The trio shared uncertain looks, debating whether or not to hand over their trust so easily.

"That depends. What's the proposition?" Sora asked, crossing his arms.

Joshua chuckled. "Follow me."

He led them to a small entrance that was covered by bushes and leaves, hidden behind the residential waterfall. He turned to them.

"After you."

Kairi was the first one to crawl in. Sora and Riku weren't as keen, but eventually followed suit. They were greeted to an empty cave. They scanned around the hollow environment.

A door with a large keyhole struck their interest. It was obstruent among the dryness, like a golden opening in the closet of a mine. Kairi walked closer towards it and graced it with curiosity.

"Kairi, be careful," Riku said.

"No need to worry," Joshua said, somehow next to Riku, making him jump a little. "It's only a door."

"You are so creepy." Riku scooted to his right.

Joshua sighed. "Anyway, Kairi, you wanted adventure, right?"

Kairi gave him a daring, yet pleading look. "More than anything…"

"All you have to do is unlock this door, and all your wildest dreams will come true." He snickered. "Corny, I know, but it fits the quintessence."

"Kairi, there's no way we can trust this guy," Riku argued. "This is where this silliness stops. I've tolerated this stuff long enough, but now's the time to put an end to it."

"To unlock it, you'll need Sora's Keyblade," Joshua said, ignoring Riku.

Sora leaned back. "How did you know that I—"

"Can we please not bother with the insignificant questions and just accept that I am an ominous spectator of you guys? Really, it would make all of this so much easier."

"Come on, Sora! Unlock it!" Kairi beseeched.

Sora summoned his Keyblade. He gave Joshua a warning look. "If this is a trick, I'll be sure that there'll be hell to pay for you."

Joshua raised his arms in defense. "Hey, you have nothing to worry about. But… beyond this door is an array of different worlds. Stay vigilant."

"Fine, I'll do it."

"Does no one ever listen to me anymore?!" Riku cried.

Kairi backed away from the door, practically bouncing with excitement. "Do it! Do it!"

Sora nodded to her and pointed the blade at the keyhole.

"Oh my god! Fine!" Riku was about to march his way out before the room was devoured by light.

The door busted opened.

A gush of wind hit them.

"What's happening?!" Sora howled.

Their breathing halted.

Air permeated their lungs.

Void thoughts.

Heads spinning.

Blank.

That was way too sudden.

* * *

><p><strong>This was originally supposed to be in the fifth chapter but I decided to break it up, just because I really don't want chapters to be 7,000 words long for this story because I feel like that makes people not want to read.<strong>

**I am SOOOOOO excited to finally get this part done! You don't understand! Because now I can let my creativity run wild and the real fun can begin! We are officially done with the introduction of this story! I didn't really want it to reach six chapters. I honestly would have preferred four chapters tops, but I wanted the characters to have more of a connection to this anime-influenced dimension before we start going to the other ones. **

**And thanks if you've read up to this point**

**But to be honest, I'm starting to doubt this story. I think it may not be as good as I thought it might be because the reaction has been very poor. So, if you could please tell me in a review if you think I should just scrap this and start over. And be honest 100%! Because I really feel like this isn't as good as I thought it was. **

**And special thanks to WitsWithMe, Sammy (Guest reviewer), Fuuga GF, RUHLSAR000, AND Amulet Misty for reviewing/following! I appreciate it! **


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